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Sunpower the Origins
One of the undisputed pioneers in the solar industry, Sunpower, continues to make strategic decisions to contribute to constant development in a changing solar industry. The company was founded on the fundamentals of building highly efficient solar panels and delivering fully integrated solutions to their customers. In addition, Sunpower has consistently been environmentally conscientious, with several of their solar panel manufacturing plants being bronze or silver cradle to cradle certified.
Sunpower’s genesis is the highly technology-centric development of their solar cell technology, allowing them to remain at the forefront of the solar photovoltaic panel market. Their Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell technology allowed them to manufacture industry-leading high efficiency solar panels. Sunpower solar cells and solar panels have been used for solar power plants going back over 40 years. In addition, these solar cells and solar panels were used in specialized solar applications, including solar race cars, satellites, and specialized aircraft that have circumnavigated the globe.
This expertise in manufacturing highly efficient solar panels and building reliable solar PV solutions has allowed them to execute utility-scale, commercial and residential projects. Their residential solar solutions have delivered significant value to their customers and gained them a reputation as a leader in the residential solar market segment in the US & Canada. Sunpower has consistently ranked among the top 5 solar installers in the US since the dawn of residential solar. Their approach as a single integrated vendor to solar solutions is the primary reason for their reputation as a leader in premium residential solutions.
Keeping true to this legacy of Sunpower has meant steadily bringing relevant solar PV technologies under the Sunpower umbrella. This has been mainly through the acquisition of technology companies; micro-inverter, string inverter, monitoring equipment manufacturers; and software companies; at early stages and integrating them into the Sunpower solution. This ‘Ford’ model of a vertically integrated company has proven to be advantageous to Sunpower and has burnished its reputation as a premier solar solutions provider.
Strategic Response to a fast-moving Solar Industry
The solar photovoltaic industry has grown dynamically in the past decade in the US & Canada, and indeed the world. The increase in solar adoption, rising solar panel efficiencies, shift in the global center of manufacturing capacity, and resultant lowering of prices per kilowatt; have let the competition capture attention and market share and have caused Sunpower to miss specific opportunities. Solar panel manufacturing was integral to Sunpower’s operations, which, while of great value to residential, commercial & utility-scale solar customers, restricted Sunpower’s ability to supply to customers whose requirement was limited to solar panels.
Indeed, it has become increasingly apparent that keeping all aspects of Sunpower’s solar solutions under one roof has come at the cost of growth, allowing relatively nascent solar manufacturers to leapfrog Sunpower. Therefore, leveraging existing partnerships and market opportunities to split operations into focus areas of residential, commercial, and solar panel manufacturing is a strategically prudent move. This will result in improved efficiency and responsiveness to the demands and opportunities of each market segment.
Maxeon Solar Technologies is the spin-off of Sunpower’s solar panel manufacturing division. The spin-off allows Sunpower to continue a focused approach to the Distributed Generation (DG) market – that is, your homes and businesses – while benefiting from supplying their high-efficiency solar panels to customers around the globe. Strategically, Maxeon allows Sunpower to retain a captive supplier of high quality solar panels while also capturing additional market share as a supplier of high efficiency solar panels. This strategy is the rationale behind Maxeon’s spin-off from Sunpower.
In addition to spinning off Maxeon as a manufacturer of solar panels developed by Sunpower, Total Energies has taken over SunPower’s Commercial & Industrial operations. Total Energies had acquired a stake of 35% in the year 2011; this transaction allowed Total Energies, formerly Total SA, to transition into the commercial & industrial solar segment in the US with its alignment to their industrial energy portfolio consisting mainly of oil & gas.
History of Sunpower’s Solar Panel Manufacturing
Sunpower has been manufacturing solar panels at their plants located in the Phillippines for several years. Over the years, they expanded their manufacturing base and possessed a capacity to produce 1GW of solar panels every year from their manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, the Phillippines, Mexico & France. The majority of this manufacturing capacity has been used for Sunpower’s installation in the United States & Canada. The Maxeon spin-off resulted in the take over of overseas manufacturing facilities by Maxeon and Sunpower, retaining the US manufacturing plant at Hillsboro, Oregon.
The Hillsboro, Oregon solar manufacturing plant, initially developed by Komatsu Silicon America in the 90s for manufacturing microchips, was idle until acquired by Solar World. Solar World ceased manufacturing operations in 2017. Manufacturing started again when Sunpower acquired the facilities in 2018. The property was sold to NTT in 2020, and the solar manufacturing plant was leased back to Sunpower to continue operations. In January 2021, Sunpower announced the ceasing of manufacturing at the Hillsboro facility by June. The official press release from Sunpower quoted CEO Tom Werner as follows; “We made the difficult but necessary decision to close our plant after careful evaluation and the change in focus of our business over recent months.”
Sunpower Residential Solar Strategy
These divestments and realignment of priorities aid in aligning Sunpower’s core competencies to market requirements. It is clear that Sunpower’s brand is more relevant to residential customers. The recent acquisition of Blue Raven Solar furthers their acquisition based growth model targetting the residential sector. Blue Raven Solar is one of the fastest growing companies in the Northwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, where Sunpower had fewer customers and market share. Similarly, through the SunPower Dealer Accelerator program, they have made minority investments in Freedom Solar Power, Texas & Sea Bright Solar, New Jersey. In addition, Sunpower has “enlisted” Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) to inject $1 billion in funding over the next 4 years to build a financing platform serving Sunpower customers.
Sunpower & Maxeon Solar Panels & Solutions
Maxeon, with the advanced IBC technology and high-efficiency solar panels, can step into the worldwide market to supply and compete with other solar panel manufacturers. When you look through the Sunpower and Maxeon promotional material, you might come across the term IBC or Interdigitate Back Contact solar panels. Simply put, IBC puts all the electrical connectors for solar cells behind the solar cell and increases the solar cell’s surface that is exposed to sunlight. More sunlight leads to more electricity generated per cell, which means more electricity generated per panel. Solar panel technology is constantly evolving, and IBC technology is promising as an alternative to mono-crystalline PERC and n-type solar panels. Sunpower panels also use mono-crystalline silicon but differ in the configuration of components in the cell. For you, the customer, what is vitally important is the 40-year warranty that comes with Sunpower & Maxeon solar panels that you purchase.
Sunpower Delivers for you, the customer
What does this mean for you, the homeowner considering the Sunpower solution for your home? Sunpower continues to be a fully integrated residential solar solution provider, a single entity that delivers a comprehensive solution. The needs of the residential solar customers have also changed over the years with diverse tariff rates & net-metering policies, battery storage, IoT-based smart home solutions, and electric vehicles; each home requires a tailor-made solution.
Sunpower provides monitoring and control technology to maximize the energy from the solar panels, respond to variable electricity tariffs, and take advantage of arbitrage opportunities by intelligently matching electricity consumption to generation and the timing of storing & releasing surplus electricity. With bespoke financial solutions, households benefit from striking a beneficial balance between expenditure, returns on investment, and being environmentally conscientious.
Sunpower’s dealer and installer network of 500 across the country continues to grow. They also partner with home builders to provide net-zero home solutions. With Sunpower panels warrantied for 40 years and systems warrantied for 25 years, a new home with an integrated Sunpower solar solution would be an integral part of the home over its lifetime. Thus, future proofing the house, reducing home ownership costs, and improving the property’s value. We expect Sunpower to continue delivering great value to their customers and wholeheartedly recommend considering their solution for your home.
