SunPower Corporation
TypePublic
IndustryRenewable energy
Founded1985 (1985)
FounderRichard Swanson
Headquarters
Richmond, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Peter Faricy (President & CEO)
RevenueIncreaseUS$1.741 billion (2022)
DecreaseUS$−0.49 million (2022)
IncreaseUS$60.463 million (2022)
Total assetsIncreaseUS$1.780 billion (2022)
Total equityIncreaseUS$575 million (2022)
OwnerTotalEnergies (50.6%)
Number of employees
4,710 (2022)
Websitesunpower.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of December 31, 2022.
References:[1]

SunPower Corporation is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 by Richard Swanson, an electrical engineering professor from Stanford University. Cypress Semiconductor bought a majority interest in the company in 2002, growing it quickly until SunPower went public in 2005. TotalEnergies, a French energy and oil company purchased a controlling interest in SunPower for US$1.37 billion in 2011.

The company previously developed and manufactured photovoltaic panels, before spinning off that part of its business in 2020 as Maxeon Solar Technologies. The company had also previously marketed its products to commercial and industrial customers before agreeing to sell that business line to TotalEnergies in February 2022.

History

Early history

SunPower was founded on April 24, 1985, by Richard Swanson,[2] who was a Stanford University professor focused on electrical engineering.[3] Swanson studied solar power efficiency in the Stanford Electronics Laboratory with funding from research grants.[4]: 468  After breaking a record for solar power efficiency in lab conditions, he took a sabbatical to start SunPower and commercialize the technology.[3][5] Initially, the company was called Eos and was funded with $2,000 in savings between Swanson and his friend Richard Crane.[4]: 468  In 1989, Robert Lorenzini invested in the company, became its chairman, and changed the name to SunPower.[4]: 468 

Some of SunPower's early revenues were from research grants[2] and using its manufacturing facilities to create silicon wafers for semiconductor companies.[4]: 468  Interest grew as SunPower completed prototype installations[3] and portable electronics that use solar power became more popular.[4]: 468  Swanson resigned from his academic position at Stanford in 1991, in order to focus on SunPower full-time.[5] The company's revenues grew from $600,000 in 1989 to $1.4 million in 1995, and $6 million in 1996.[4]: 468  However, by 2001 the company was anticipating having to lay off half of its employees.[6]

Growth

SunPower founder Richard Swanson's former classmate, T.J. Rodgers, was the CEO of Cypress Semiconductor and took an interest in investing in the company.[6] At first, the Cypress board wasn't willing to invest, so Rodgers invested $750,000 of his own money.[7] Starting with an investment of $8 million, Cypress eventually invested about $150 million,[7] acquiring a controlling interest in SunPower in 2002.[6] Cypress appointed Tom Werner as the new CEO the following year.[4]: 469 

Demand for SunPower's products increased in the early 2000s, due to rising utility costs, government subsidies, and its new A-300 solar cell.[4]: 469 [8] In particular, SunPower grew in Germany and California, where new government subsidies were being introduced.[8] By 2005, SunPower was not yet profitable,[4]: 469  but had $200 million in backlogged orders.[8] Revenues increased from $5 million in 2003 to $78.7 million in 2005.[4]: 469 

As the company was getting closer to profitability, it filed an initial public offering.[4]: 469  The 2005 offering raised $138.6 million in funding.[6] The following year, SunPower was profitable for the first time with $236.5 million in revenues.[4]: 469  SunPower moved into a larger corporate headquarters location in San Jose, California and secured several contracts with major retailers for solar panel installations.[4]: 469–70  In 2007, SunPower announced plans to expand its manufacturing facility five-fold[9] and build a second factory.[10]

SunPower collaborated with PowerLight to develop its roofing-tile solar product called SunTile.[4]: 469 [11] In order to combine their R&D efforts, SunPower acquired PowerLight for $265 million, in January 2007.[4]: 469–70  Analysts estimated the acquisition doubled SunPower's size.[11] Shortly afterwards, PowerLight secured a $330 million contract, the largest SunPower had ever done.[12] By 2007, half of Cypress' revenues, or $775 million, was coming from its investment in SunPower.[13] SunPower was spun-off as a separate business from Cypress in 2008.[13]

SunPower acquired Sunray Renewable Energy, a solar panel company based in Italy, for $277 million in 2010, in order to expand in Europe.[14][15] The following year, SunPower cut back production due to an overall market decline in solar power purchases.[16] SunPower also announced the French oil and gas company Total was acquiring a majority interest in SunPower for $1.37 billion.[17] In 2012, SunPower founder Richard Swanson retired, though he continued to serve on the SunPower advisory board.[5]

By 2013, SunPower's revenues rebounded and it started expanding its manufacturing facilities again.[16] That same year, it acquired Greenbotics, which developed automated cleaning systems for solar panels, and Dragonfly, which developed solar micro-inverters.[18][19] This was followed by SunPower's 2014 acquisition of SolarBridge, which developed microinverters used to improve the efficiency of solar panels.[19] In 2018, SunPower sold its microinverter business to Enphase Energy and since that time Sunpower has used Enphase microinverters in all AC module products.[20][21]

In 2014, SunPower raised $220 million from Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, in order to fund customer financing options.[22] That same year, SunPower invested $20 million in a home energy app company called Tendril.[23] As part of the deal, the two companies began integrating their products, so the home automation software from Tendril could time heavy energy use for when the solar panels are generating the most power.[23]

Spin-offs

In 2019, SunPower announced it was going to spin-off its manufacturing division into a separate business in Singapore named Maxeon Solar Technologies.[24] As part of the deal, Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co invested $298 million for a 29% interest in Maxeon.[24][25] The remaining SunPower business became focused on services, installation, batteries, and other products.[25] In 2021, former CEO Tom Werner retired and Peter Faricy took his place as CEO of SunPower.[26]

In February 2022, SunPower spun-off its commercial and industrial installation divisions, which were purchased by SunPower investor TotalEnergies for $250 million. SunPower said the transaction would allow it to focus on residential installations.[27]

The company announced on December 18, 2023, that said that there's a question it will be a "going concern," indicating that leadership is uncertain if the company can continue operations given their current financial position. The company also announced that it previously incorrectly accounted for inventory, causing a technical default, however creditors gave the company time to shore up its finances before calling those debts.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "SunPower 2022 Annual Report". March 9, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Hull, Dana (April 23, 2010). "2010: Q&A with Dick Swanson, founder and president of SunPower". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021. He founded SunPower on April 24, 1985, and the small company lived on research grants and small projects until...
  3. 1 2 3 Chandler, David (May 7, 1990). "Renewable Energy Some Say Alternative Fuels Could Supply 80 Percent of the Nation's Needs by 2010". The Boston Globe. p. 27. Richard Swanson, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, created cells that hold the efficiency record for single-element photovoltaics in the laboratory. Now, he has taken a sabbatical to start a solar energy company in Mountain View... His company, called SunPower, has installed prototypes in Atlanta and elsewhere and plans to have commercial plants producing power at competitive prices by the middle of this decade.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Grant, Tina (2009). "SunPower Corp.". International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 91. St. James Press. pp. 467–470.
  5. 1 2 3 Wesoff, Eric (October 8, 2012). "Dick Swanson Retiring From SunPower, But Not Done". Greentech Media. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021. where his group developed the point-contact solar cell. Lab versions set a record...In 1991, Dr. Swanson resigned from the faculty
  6. 1 2 3 4 Takahashi, Dean (August 18, 2014). "2005: Hot IPO for solar cell maker SunPower". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Cypress' solar-power gambit bears fruit in SunPower IPO". EE Times. December 12, 2005. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021. In his first attempt at interesting the Cypress board in an investment, Rodgers got nowhere, so he cut SunPower a personal check for $750,000 to keep the company going until he could sway his board. Cypress later invested $150 million in SunPower, beginning with an initial $8 million investment.
  8. 1 2 3 Carlton, Jim (May 19, 2005). "Solar Energy May Help Cypress Regain Its Glow; CEO Invested $110 Million To Retool SunPower Chips; Now, Orders Are Pouring In". The Wall Street Journal. p. A.7.
  9. ↑ Añonuevo, Euan (April 20, 2007). "SunPower to Jack up Solar-Cell Production". The Manila Times. SunPower Philippines will expand by fivefold its solar-cell-manufacturing business in the country due to strong demand abroad.
  10. ↑ Tribble, Sarha (April 16, 2007). "2007: Sunpower: Gains powered by clean energy". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  11. 1 2 Carlton, Jim (November 16, 2006). "SunPower Buys PowerLight As Alternative-Energy Market Revs Up". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021. SunPower and PowerLight have collaborated on a roofing-tile product, called SunTile
  12. ↑ Bunk, Matthew (December 16, 2005). "PowerLight, SunPower switch on a new deal". Oakland Tribune. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021. It's the largest ever supply contract for SunPower, which went public Nov. 15.
  13. 1 2 Johnson, Steve (October 13, 2008). "2008: Cypress Semiconductor goes it alone without SunPower". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021. last year accounting for some $775 million – or about half – of Cypress' revenue
  14. ↑ Gupta, Poornima (February 11, 2010). "UPDATE 2-SunPower to acquire Europe's SunRay for $277 mln". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  15. ↑ Hull, Dana (February 11, 2010). "2010: SunPower to acquire SunRay Renewable Energy". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  16. 1 2 Wang, Ucilia (October 30, 2013). "Back to growth: SunPower to boost solar cell manufacturing by 25%". Gigaom. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  17. ↑ Groom, Nichola (April 28, 2011). "Total SA to pay up to $1.37 billion for SunPower stake". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  18. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (November 12, 2014). "SunPower Buys Microinverter Startup SolarBridge". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  19. 1 2 Chernova, Yuliya (November 11, 2014). "SunPower Buys Microinverter Startup SolarBridge". VentureWire.
  20. ↑ Hoium, Travis (June 14, 2018). "Why the SunPower-Enphase Energy Microinverter Deal Makes Sense for Everyone". The Motley Fool. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  21. ↑ "SunPower's Planned Spin-Off, Maxeon Solar Technologies, and Enphase Energy Announce High-Efficiency AC Module Partnership for International Solar Customers". SunPower (Press release). July 15, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  22. ↑ Fehrenbacher, Katie (June 25, 2014). "After twists and turns, SunPower and SolarCity emerge as fierce rivals for solar roofs". Gigaom. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  23. 1 2 Tweed, Katherine (December 15, 2014). "SunPower Invests $20M in Tendril to Link Solar With Home Energy Management". Greentech Media. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  24. 1 2 "One of America's biggest solar-panel makers quits manufacturing". Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2019. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  25. 1 2 Sarkar, Arundhati (November 11, 2019). "SunPower to spin off solar panel manufacturing, shares rise". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  26. ↑ "SunPower CEO to retire, former Amazon executive named top boss". Reuters. March 25, 2021. Archived from the original on March 25, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  27. ↑ Stevens, Pippa (February 10, 2022). "SunPower sells commercial and industrial business to biggest investor, TotalEnergies". CNBC. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  28. ↑ Hoium, Travis (December 18, 2023). "Why SunPower's Stock Dropped 41% on Monday". The Motley Fool. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
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