energyGraveyard archive2012–2025

Sunnova Energy

Sunnova Energy (NYSE: NOVA) was one of the largest U.S. residential solar and battery financiers, building a dealer-network 'energy-as-a-service' model that put rooftop solar on roughly 440,000 homes through loans, leases, and power-purchase agreements. Founded in 2012 and public by 2019, it became a clean-energy bellwether — and the recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest-ever solar loan guarantee. Crushed by ~$8.9B in debt, prolonged high interest rates, and the loss of that federal backstop, it filed for Chapter 11 in June 2025 and was wound down after its assets were sold for about $118M.

Years active

2012–2025

Peak valuation

$4.4B

Peak headcount

~1,200 (2023)

A financier for the rooftop, not an installer

John Berger founded Sunnova in Houston in 2012 with a financing-first thesis: rather than knock on doors itself, it would underwrite and service rooftop solar and batteries sold by a national network of independent dealers. Homeowners paid little or nothing upfront and signed long-dated loans, leases, or power-purchase agreements, while Sunnova held the customer relationship and the cash flows. The model promised utility-scale balance-sheet economics applied to hundreds of thousands of individual roofs.

IPO and the clean-energy bull run

Sunnova went public on the NYSE in July 2019 at $12 a share, raising roughly $168M gross and serving about 63,000 customers across some 20 states and territories. The 2020 clean-energy rally then lifted its market capitalization to a peak of about $4.4 billion by year-end. Cheap capital was the engine of the model, and for a few years it ran hot.

Scaling to 440,000 homes on borrowed money

Through aggressive dealer expansion, Sunnova grew its customer base past 438,000 by early 2024, becoming the second-largest provider of third-party-owned residential solar in the country. But the growth was debt-financed: the company layered on securitizations and warehouse facilities, and total liabilities swelled to $10.67 billion by the end of 2024. The business depended on a continuous supply of low-cost financing to keep originating and servicing systems.

The federal backstop that never deployed

In September 2023 the U.S. Department of Energy closed a $3 billion partial loan guarantee for Sunnova's 'Project Hestia' — the agency's largest single commitment to solar and its first for a virtual power plant — meant to back up to $5 billion in consumer loans for as many as 115,000 lower-income and Puerto Rico households. By March 2025 Sunnova said it did not expect to use the facility, and in May 2025 the Trump administration terminated it, with roughly $2.9 billion de-obligated. The cheaper cost of capital the company had counted on evaporated.

Interest rates break the model

Prolonged high interest rates, above-target inflation, tariffs, and unfavorable policy shifts in California compressed margins across residential solar and made Sunnova's debt unsustainable. It issued going-concern warnings, drew a $185 million rescue loan priced near 15%, and watched its cash dwindle even as its long-term debt sat near $8.9 billion. The same rate environment had already pushed peers such as SunPower toward collapse.

Chapter 11 and an orderly wind-down

Sunnova filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas on June 8–9, 2025, with about $8.9 billion in long-term debt against only ~$13.5 million in cash; the NYSE suspended trading and moved to delist immediately. The court confirmed the plan on November 10, 2025, with substantially all assets sold to Solaris Assets LLC for about $118 million and operations transitioned to SunStrong Management LLC. The plan went effective on November 14, 2025, leaving a creditor trust to distribute proceeds and wind down the remaining estate.

What worked, what broke

What worked

Pioneered a dealer-network, financing-first model that let roughly 440,000 households adopt rooftop solar and batteries with little or no money down.
Grew into the second-largest provider of third-party-owned residential solar in the United States, operating across more than 50 states and territories.
Completed a $168 million NYSE IPO in 2019 and reached a peak market capitalization of about $4.4 billion during the 2020 clean-energy rally.
Won the U.S. Department of Energy's largest-ever single solar loan guarantee, a $3 billion partial guarantee for its 'Project Hestia' virtual-power-plant program.
Built one of the country's largest residential solar and storage fleets, whose servicing contracts were valuable enough to be acquired and kept running after bankruptcy.
Extended financing toward lower-income borrowers and Puerto Rico under Project Hestia, targeting customers often shut out of rooftop solar.

What broke

A ~$8.9 billion long-term debt load (over $10.6 billion in total liabilities) built up during years of cheap capital became unserviceable when rates rose.
Prolonged high interest rates raised both Sunnova's borrowing costs and customers' financing costs, undercutting demand and unit economics at the same time.
The financing-first model depended on a constant flow of low-cost capital, leaving the company acutely fragile once that flow tightened.
Loss of the $3 billion DOE loan guarantee in May 2025 removed the cheaper cost of capital Sunnova had been counting on to fund growth.
By early 2025 it held only about $13.5 million in cash and had to take a $185 million rescue loan near 15% interest, signaling a liquidity crisis.
Sector-wide headwinds — tariffs, above-target inflation, and unfavorable net-metering policy changes in California — compressed residential-solar margins industry-wide.

Sources

Obituary authored Jun 16, 2026 via Sonnet 4.5 + web_search.