SunPower expands in Texas with SOLRITE Virtual Power Plant partnership. October 27, 2026 07:00 ET | Source: SunPower Inc. OREM, Utah, Oct. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - SunPower Inc. ("SunPower," or the "Company")(Nasdaq SPWR), a solar technology, services, and installation company, today announced an expansion in Texas through the acquisition of prime project assets from Houston installer Greenlight Solar, as well as a second strategic partnership with Fort Worth financier SOLRITE Energy to expand its residential solar and storage offerings and accelerate its Virtual Power Plant (VPP) business in which residential and commercial batteries can sell power. The expansion adds experienced local talent and operating capabilities to support growth in Texas, a top-3 U.S. solar market. SunPower will bring its sales, installation and lifetime warranty support to join with SOLRITE's VPP solution and solar financing capabilities to serve more customers with a broader platform connected to distributed energy markets. T. J. Rodgers, SunPower CEO said, "Texas is currently one of the most compelling solar growth opportunities in the U.S. Greenlight provides us not only an immediate high-quality installation team in Texas, but also CEO James Garrett himself, who now leads our U.S. installation group. SOLRITE not only sources projects to us but also provides project funding for innovative systems with large batteries connected to a VPP, enabling power sales into the open market. That VPP capability provides an extra source of income that SOLRITE shares with homeowners and EPCs, making SOLRITE an attractive partner." Kapil Rai, EVP of Direct at SunPower, said, "Building our VPP business is a key part of SunPower's growth strategy going forward. Our partnership with SOLRITE gives us a path to bring together customer acquisition, solar, storage deployment, and financing to develop this business in Texas and beyond." About SunPower SunPower Inc. (Nasdaq: SPWR) is a leading residential solar services provider in North America. The Company's digital platform and installation services support energy needs for customers wishing to make the transition to a more energy-efficient lifestyle. For more information visit www.sunpower.com. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements concerning the equity for interest exchange and related impacts of the transactions. The words "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "seek," "plan," "project," "target," "looking ahead," "look to," "move into," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements represent SunPower's current beliefs, estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release and information contained in this press release should not be relied upon as representing SunPower's estimates as of any subsequent date. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If the risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to market risks, trends and conditions. These risks are not exhaustive. For additional information on these risks and uncertainties and other potential factors that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted, readers should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 14, 2026, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, and other documents that we have filed with, or will file with, the SEC. Such filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and SunPower assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Company Contact: Sioban Hickie VP Investor Relations [email protected] (801) 515-8727

SunPower expands in Texas with solar acquisition, battery partnership. 'Building its VPP business is a key part of SunPower's growth strategy.' October 27, 2026 Solar services company SunPower Inc. is expanding its Texas operations through the acquisition of project assets from Houston-based Greenlight Solar and a new strategic partnership with Fort Worth-based SOLRITE Energy. The expansion is intended to strengthen SunPower's residential solar and battery storage business while accelerating its virtual power plant (VPP) operations. These systems connect distributed batteries, so stored electricity can be dispatched or sold into power markets, potentially creating an additional revenue stream for participating homeowners and project partners. SunPower said the Greenlight acquisition adds local installation capacity and experienced personnel. Greenlight CEO James Garrett will lead SunPower's U.S. installation group, according to the announcement. How will the SOLRITE partnership work? SOLRITE will provide solar project financing and connect eligible battery systems to its virtual power plant solution. SunPower will contribute customer acquisition, solar installation services and long-term warranty support. The companies aim to combine financing, installation and battery aggregation into a broader residential energy offering. Under the model described by SunPower CEO T.J. Rodgers, revenue from electricity sales through the VPP can be shared with homeowners and engineering, procurement and construction partners. SunPower Executive Vice President of Direct Kapil Rai said the partnership provides a path to combine customer acquisition, solar and storage development, and financing as the company develops its VPP business in Texas and other markets. VP Kapil Rai: "Building our VPP business is a key part of SunPower's growth strategy going forward. Our partnership with SOLRITE gives us a path to bring together customer acquisition, solar, storage deployment, and financing to develop this business in Texas and beyond." The announcement did not disclose the financial terms of the Greenlight asset acquisition, the number of projects involved or a timeline for deploying additional battery systems. Why is Texas important to SunPower? SunPower described Texas as one of the country's most compelling solar growth markets, citing opportunities to expand residential installations and connect distributed energy resources to electricity markets. Battery storage can allow participating customers to store electricity for later use or market dispatch, depending on system configuration and program requirements. Home " Featured " SunPower expands in Texas with solar acquisition, battery partnership.

Optivolt raises $32 million Series A to expand intelligent solar panel technology. October 21, 2026 Rohit Kalyanpur, founder and CEO of Optivolt, with a solar panel and testing equipment. (Courtesy of Optivolt) San Francisco-based Optivolt has raised $32 million in Series A financing led by VXI Capital to expand manufacturing of its solar panel-integrated power electronics technology, bringing the company's total funding to $42 million. The financing included participation from RA Capital, Valo Ventures and Atlas Innovate. Optivolt plans to use the capital to increase production capacity and accelerate deployment of its Power Balancer technology across residential, commercial and utility-scale solar installations, including projects supporting electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers. The investment follows the shipment of more than 20,000 solar panels incorporating Optivolt's Power Balancer, a technology designed to improve electricity generation by managing power distribution among groups of solar cells within individual panels. Founded by CEO Rohit Kalyanpur, Optivolt has spent nine years developing an alternative to conventional solar panel electrical architecture. Its technology embeds active power electronics directly into solar modules, allowing them to adjust to changing environmental conditions and recover energy that might otherwise be lost. Traditional solar panels can experience reduced output when individual cells or groups of cells are affected by shade, dirt, debris or uneven degradation. Because solar cells are electrically interconnected, localized performance problems can restrict energy production across larger sections of a panel. Optivolt's Power Balancer addresses those limitations by redistributing energy among cell groups in real time, reducing the effects of mismatched performance. The company says its technology replaces conventional bypass diodes while integrating rapid-shutdown and monitoring capabilities into the solar panel itself. That architecture is intended to reduce the need for certain external module-level components, including separate power optimizers, microinverters and rapid-shutdown devices, depending on system design. By combining power management and monitoring functions within the panel, Optivolt aims to improve energy output while simplifying solar system installation and associated hardware requirements. Kalyanpur said the company's development strategy has focused on improving solar performance under actual operating conditions rather than relying solely on laboratory efficiency measurements. "For nine years, we've rebuilt the solar panel from first principles, embedding aerospace-grade power electronics so it can respond to Earth as it actually is, not the ideal conditions of a lab," Kalyanpur said. The company's engineering approach draws on expertise in satellite power systems, where electronics must operate efficiently and reliably under demanding conditions. Integrating active electronics inside solar modules presents thermal management challenges because the components must operate within panels exposed to prolonged sunlight and elevated temperatures. Optivolt says its Power Balancer achieves 99.4% conversion efficiency under typical operating conditions. The company has also developed an intellectual property portfolio covering its integrated power electronics architecture, with 19 issued patents and 27 additional patent applications pending. Optivolt reports receiving UL certifications covering its integrated junction-box enclosure, panel-integrated electronics, rapid-shutdown system and solar-module safety. In internal testing, the company says panels incorporating its technology generated up to six times as much power as panels using external optimizers under specified shading conditions. The result reflects defined test scenarios and should not be interpreted as a general performance improvement across all installations. The Series A round was led by VXI Capital, a hard technology investment firm founded by the former chief technology officer of the U.S. military's Defense Innovation Unit. Orin Hoffman, managing director at VXI Capital, said the investment reflects the firm's view that future solar infrastructure will increasingly depend on intelligent power management rather than improvements in panel manufacturing alone. The financing also brings support from investors with experience in solar technology and energy markets. Paul Nahi, founding CEO of Enphase and an Optivolt investor, said integrating power electronics inside solar modules represents a different approach from managing electricity at the output of each panel. Tom Werner, former CEO of SunPower and an Optivolt investor, highlighted the importance of improving lifetime energy production under real-world operating conditions. Richard Kauffman, former chairman of energy and finance for New York and an Optivolt investor, emphasized the potential financial implications of increasing the amount of electricity generated over a solar project's operating life. For solar developers and system owners, higher energy production from installed capacity can influence project economics, particularly where available space, installation costs and long-term performance affect investment returns. Optivolt's strategy targets those considerations by combining internal panel-level power management with monitoring and safety functions. The company's planned manufacturing expansion will support deployment across multiple solar market segments, from residential rooftops to large utility-scale installations. Its focus on utility-scale projects also aligns with growing interest in renewable energy infrastructure capable of serving power-intensive facilities, including AI data centers. With $42 million raised to date and more than 20,000 compatible panels shipped, Optivolt is moving from technology development toward broader commercial deployment. The latest financing will support manufacturing growth and the company's efforts to establish panel-integrated power electronics as an alternative architecture for future solar installations.