A politically connected solar company says it has "substantial doubt" it can stay in business, a little over a year after obtaining a $3 billion loan from the Biden administration.
Sunnova Energy said on Monday that its current finances are "not sufficient to meet obligations and fund operations for a period of at least one year from the date we issue our consolidated financial statements without implementing additional measures."
"Therefore, substantial doubt exists regarding our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least one year from the date we issue our consolidated financial statements," the company said in a statement on Monday.
Sunnova’s stock plunged over 70 percent following its announcement, according to Bloomberg.
The news comes a year and a half after the Biden administration’s Department of Energy Loan Programs Office closed on a $3 billion loan with the solar company—the largest federal loan to a solar company in history.
Sunnova’s ties to Biden administration officials and the history of consumer complaints against the company drew scrutiny and led to investigations by Republican lawmakers.
Biden’s head of the DOE loan office, Jigar Shah, had close ties with Sunnova board director Anne Slaughter Andrew, who also sat on the board of a nonprofit trade group that was founded by Shah, the Washington Free Beacon reported in October 2023.
Sunnova’s business practices have come under scrutiny as well. The company has been accused of scamming dementia patients on their deathbeds into signing five-figure, multi-decade solar panel leases, according to interviews and state consumer complaint records obtained by the Free Beacon in November 2023.
The Free Beacon reviewed at least 50 consumer complaints filed against Sunnova in Texas since 2022. Multiple complaints alleged that Sunnova sales representatives persuaded elderly dementia patients, some on their deathbeds, to enter lengthy solar panel leases.
Two Texas residents told the Free Beacon that their fathers were persuaded to sign such leases while senile and on hospice.
"It was truly ripping off old people," said one resident. "It was the biggest ripoff I've ever seen."
Republicans on the Senate and House energy committees launched investigations into Sunnova in late 2023.
"We are alarmed about recent, credible reports that Sunnova has racked up numerous consumer complaints, including those alleging troubling sales practices, such as Sunnova pressing elderly homeowners in poor health to sign long-term contracts costing tens of thousands of dollars," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Shah.
The DOE loan program has long been a subject of controversy. During the Obama administration, the office came under fire after issuing a $535 million loan to Solyndra, a politically connected solar company that ended up going bankrupt.
Last December, the DOE inspector general called on the administration to immediately suspend the loan program, warning that officials weren’t complying with conflict-of-interest rules and that the program carried a "significant risk of fraud."
Sunnova’s announcement comes as solar energy has taken an industry-wide hit. Other major solar companies, including First Solar and Sunrun, have also disclosed financial troubles in recent weeks.