Sunergy California LLC, the company manufacturing CSUN solar panels in a 400-MW factory outside Sacramento, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and is now in the process of liquidating its assets.
The American manufacturing arm of China Sunergy Co., Sunergy California filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2021, listing more than $10 million in estimated assets and $17.2 million in liabilities. In addition to numerous breaches of contract, Sunergy was in a lengthy debt battle with DEPCOM Solar, owing the utility-scale solar construction firm almost $4 million.
The expectation was for Sunergy to reorganize while continuing to operate at its 140,000-sq.-ft manufacturing building in McClellan Park in Sacramento County, but later court reports found that the facility had not been operating since late April. An August 2021 site visit by the bankruptcy trustee found that manufacturing equipment, raw materials and finished solar panels were still located within the plant.
More than 3,000 leftover solar panels were eventually sold to Coldwell Solar, a large-scale California solar installer. There are also approximately “10 containers of prepaid goods being held at the Port of Oakland by U.S. Customs.”
Solar Power World reached out to Sunergy California and its bankruptcy trustee for comment and did not receive a reply.
Chinese solar cell and module manufacturer China Sunergy Co. opened the American factory in 2017 as a way to “efficiently serve customers across the United States.” The facility made 72-cell CSUN/ASUN-branded solar panels mostly used on utility-scale solar projects. Sunergy was listed on this summer’s anonymous petition to the Dept. of Commerce as potentially one of the Chinese solar panel manufacturers circumventing antidumping tariffs by setting up manufacturing outlets in other countries.
Former employee says
This company was a shell game from day one. It advertised US-made panels, but the basic sales strategy was to bait and switch customers into buying Chinese manufactured panels. Furthermore, the panels that they did make at the Sunergy facility in McClellan Park, used whatever materials they could source. It was well known within the plant (look for Frank Cabretta Safety and Compliance Officer), that the materials were often substandard. This company knowingly produced panels that did not meet the specifications of the certifications. As their Safety and Compliance offer said on numerous time, “These people don’t care about any rules, just meeting orders”.
Most of the sales staff that the company trusted to do their dirty work, went to work for another shell company based in Cambodia. Other sales staff that worked in the United States were actually employees of China Sunergy. Their whole mission was to divert customers who believed they were going to order US panels to Chinese-produced panels. Hence, they shipped more panels into the US than they made.
Take the creation of “ASUN”, that was presented at a SPI show as the only brand this company was selling, (show both was completely branded with “ASUN”, including creating spec sheets which were just rebranded CSUN products. At the show, most of the US employees were told to sell “Sunergy California (CSUN), while their US Manager based in Texas and the Chinese staff were tasked to switch ASUN prospects to imported CSUN modules as a way to secure orders while ASUN supposedly ramped up.
CSUN/Sunergy California knew that the buyers needing a large quantities of budget modules, were generally desperate for someone to tell them their orders would be fulfilled in a timely manner.
Ultimately the McClellan Park facility was just a storefront dressed up with enough manufacturing to attract customers. They played a shell game with orders, seldom delivering on time and I’d suggest that none of their product met specs after the initial certification.
It was CEC/CSUN up to their old game of fraud and deception that DEPCOM and other companies world-wide experienced.
Eric says
As matter of fact, I believe most of the buyers know the fraud and turned their eyes away because they can make a lot of moneys using cheap and dirty panels.
Solarman says
“Solar Power World reached out to Sunergy California and its bankruptcy trustee for comment and did not receive a reply.”
In the World you might just find there are many manufacturing facilities filing for bankruptcy and others buying into a particular market to start up their manufacturing lines. There have been several stories here about that very thing lately. The concern should be be assigned in an “overall inventory” of supply chains within the U.S. borders. This country should be obtaining materials, recycling materials, manufacturing products using solar PV and or wind generation and smart ESS and not rely on foreign supply chains. Why does it have to be so hard?
Semper Solaris says
I agree with you Solarman. We should definitely be obtaining the materials and products, but it’s a little too difficult especially with all the regulations and laws. We are hoping to see some major changes next year when it comes to foreign supply chains and relying more on exactly what you stated.