Reuters
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In This Article:
-Sunnova Energy said on Thursday it would lay off about 55% of its workforce, or 718 employees, in a bid to rein in spending as the residential solar panel installer grapples with a massive debt pile and sluggish demand.
The company, which is restructuring its debt, had warned in March that it might not be able to continue as a going concern.
Sunnova did not provide details on the charges it would incur in relation to the layoffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which is pushing to maximize oil and gas production, last month canceled a partial loan guarantee of $2.92 billion that was awarded to Sunnova by the Biden administration.
Earlier this month, unit Sunnova TEP Developer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States.
The development comes at a time when the U.S. residential solar energy industry is under immense pressure from higher interest rates, a reduction in incentives in top market California, as well as the threat of subsidy elimination for green energy.
Companies that put solar panels on U.S. homes said last month a Republican budget bill that has advanced in Congress could deal a massive blow to the industry by eliminating a generous subsidy for homeowners that had buttressed the industry's growth.
(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Pooja Desai and Shounak Dasgupta)
