SunPower Went Bankrupt Despite Huge Subsidies

The Wall Street Journal reports Another Green Energy Subsidy Bust

The 39-year-old SunPower is the latest solar rooftop business to fail this year. Others include Titan Solar Power and Sunworks. SunPower cited a "severe liquidity crisis caused by a sharp decline in demand in the solar market and SunPower's inability to obtain new capital." The IRA boosted solar subsidies, so why has demand fallen?

One reason is higher interest rates have made rooftop panel leasing less attractive to customers. Some states like California have scaled back programs that pay customers to send solar power they don't use to the grid. Such subsidies raise the cost of power for people who don't have panels. In California the grid is often overloaded with solar power.

The cost of panels has also increased amid overall inflation and President Biden's tariffs, which were backed by domestic manufacturers and Democrats in Congress. Solar installers warned the tariffs would hurt their industry, and they have. Jobs that Mr. Biden's subsidies giveth, his tariffs and inflation taketh.

Offshore wind projects are also getting scratched because of rising costs and interest rates that make them uneconomic even with subsidies. BP last year wrote down its U.S. offshore wind business by $1.1 billion. Wind developer Orsted last autumn announced $4 billion in write-downs after walking away from two projects off the New Jersey coast.