Spruce Power, a US owner and operator of residential solar energy assets, is expanding its in-house field services operations to reduce costs and improve system performance. After successfully launching vertically integrated teams in New Jersey in early 2025, the company is now replicating the model in Southern California, its largest portfolio market. The New Jersey operation reduced servicing costs by approximately 25% by eliminating third-party vendor markups and improving scheduling efficiency. The model also shortened repair times and improved system availability, enabling better capture of SREC revenues. Spruce owns cash flows from approximately 84,000 home solar assets and services around 140,000 systems across the US. The company plans to extend its field services capabilities to third-party assets whilst leveraging its operational infrastructure.

Solar layoffs and closures run rampant in Trump's first year back 2026 trends in Solar + storage. By Billy Ludt | January 8, 2026 2025 was marked by a radical economic shift for the U.S. solar industry, with a shorter window for federal subsidies and a presidential administration that is actively halting renewable energy developments. Import tariffs, universal inflation and high interest rates for project financing have also dampened the recent solar boom. Bankruptcies, furloughs and layoffs have accompanied this sea change in the market, affecting installers, manufacturers and other groups within U.S. solar. Environmental business group E2's latest "Clean Economy Works" analysis reported that as of October 2025, nearly 30,000 jobs that would have been created from new major clean energy projects were canceled. Employment numbers in the solar and storage industries hit a record high to start 2025. The "National Solar Jobs Census 2024" determined that 464,053 people worked in U.S. solar and storage at the beginning of the year, more than triple the amount of people employed in the U.S. coal industry. "Since these job totals are as of 2024, they do not reflect the seismic federal policy shifts that have occurred since a new presidential administration took office in January 2025... we anticipate that this 2024 baseline will provide an important comparison point for how these policies have impacted the solar and battery energy storage industries when 2025 employment data is gathered in the coming year," the report states. Now, the Trump administration is shifting the ambitions of President Joe Biden's clean energy policy back to fossil fuel sources. The total impact of this hasn't been measured yet, but the effects on domestic solar are already apparent. U.S. solar bankruptcies and layoffs. From a Solar Power World review of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices issued by state offices, at least 1,691 people working in U.S. solar were reportedly laid off in 2025, but these documents do not account for every job lost in the industry. Two months into Trump's second term, national solar leasing company Sunnova laid off 300 people - about 15% of its staff - citing high-interest financing and policy uncertainty as the reasons for workforce reduction. Then in June, Sunnova filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaving the market with millions of dollars owed to creditors, including its installer clients, and shedding a staff of more than 1,000 people. Sunnova's assets and business operations were acquired by GoodFinch Management and are now under operations of its subsidiary Solaris Assets. In a similar market segment, Spruce Power, a third-party residential solar financier, laid off 40 people and closed its Denver, Colorado, office in August, claiming the decision was based on company savings. In August, former PosiGen CEO Peter Shaper sent a memo to nearly all employees informing them that their jobs were terminated. Per WARN notice filings, 293 PosiGen employees were laid off in Connecticut, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. PosiGen's company mission was to expand access to solar energy by installing projects for low-to-middle income customers. According to the employee termination notice, PosiGen intended to stay in business if it could find other financing sources, even recently obtaining a $600 million investment by private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management. But ultimately, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November. "Hundreds of employees, including myself, were laid off with little warning," said a former PosiGen employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Contractors and partners were left unpaid. Families who trusted our mission of 'Solar for All' were left in limbo." Blue Ridge Power, the EPC subsidiary of developer Pine Gate Renewables, issued layoffs for 517 employees between its Asheville and Fayetteville, North Carolina, businesses in September. David Sanders, president of Blue Ridge Power, again blamed "regulatory and capital market environments" as the primary causes for workforce reduction at the EPC. Then in November, Blue Ridge's parent company Pine Gate Renewables filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, selling off its businesses and its portfolio of solar and energy storage projects, with a pipeline of 10 GW[DC] underway. Beyond installation and onto factory floors, the domestic solar manufacturing segment also experienced layoffs and closures in 2025. Meyer Burger laid off 355 employees in May at its recently opened solar panel assembly factory in Goodyear, Arizona. Less than a year after beginning operations, the 1.5-GW PV module factory shuttered, with the company attributing the closure to funding issues. Increased component detainment by Customs and Border Protection reportedly caused solar panel manufacturer Qcells to furlough 1,000 employees and lay off 300 more from its two plants in Georgia. Powin Energy, an energy storage company based in Oregon with a global installed capacity of more than 17 GWh, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. Solar shingle manufacturer GAF Energy laid off 138 employees and closed its R&D facility in California in December. Oliver Koehler, CEO of another solar shingle manufacturer SunTegra, decided to cease operations in October. "We've been impacted by tariffs from the first containers we had on the water, literally going back to 2014," he said in a feature published in October. Mosaic, a solar and home improvement financier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. Vote Solar, an industry advocacy group based in California, laid off 11 people in August. And design platform Aurora Solar reportedly laid off 58 people in January 2025, according to state WARN notices. The effect of federal opposition to solar has reached practically every corner of the industry. Perhaps not every job lost or company closure can be solely attributed to the Trump administration rescinding the subsidies that once bolstered the industry, but companies are largely citing this hostility to PV as the primary factor.

Spruce Power appoints Thomas Cimino as Chief Financial Officer. HOUSTON-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Spruce Power Holding Corporation (NYSE: SPRU), a leading owner and operator of distributed residential solar energy assets across the United States, today announced that Thomas Cimino has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Cimino had served as Interim CFO since June 2025 and formally executed his employment agreement with the company on December 3, 2025. "We are excited to officially appoint Tom as our Chief Financial Officer," said Chris Hayes, Chief Executive Officer of Spruce Power. "Since stepping in as Interim CFO, Tom has demonstrated exceptional financial leadership, strengthened our internal controls, and helped advance our operational and capital-allocation strategy. His deep experience across energy, infrastructure, and capital markets makes him the right leader to guide Spruce Power's financial organization as we continue to drive discipline, stability, and long-term value creation." Cimino brings more than 25 years of senior financial leadership experience, including roles as: * Chief Financial Officer, Vantage Drilling International * Chief Financial Officer, AEI Services * Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, EnfraGen Earlier in his career, he served at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, worked in the Global Capital Markets Group at PwC, and began his public-accounting career with KPMG. "I am honored to step into the permanent CFO position at such an important time for Spruce Power," said Cimino. "We have a strong strategy and a dedicated team focused on delivering dependable clean-energy solutions to homeowners. I look forward to continuing to strengthen our financial foundation and supporting the company's growth." About Spruce Power Spruce Power is a leading owner and operator of distributed solar energy assets across the United States. We provide subscription-based services that make it easy for homeowners to benefit from rooftop solar power and battery storage. Our power as-a-service model allows consumers to access new technology without making a significant upfront investment or incurring maintenance costs. Our Company owns the cash flows from approximately 85,000 home solar assets and customer contracts across the United States. For additional information, please visit www.sprucepower.com.