Huge solar equipment manufacturer files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

The U.S. solar energy industry has faced many of the same economic issues that other retail and manufacturing industries have dealt with, including rising labor and product costs driven by inflation, higher interest rates on debt obligations, and extreme competition from across the world.

Some economic factors unique to the solar industry, however, threaten to put some companies out of business.

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The solar industry may face a potential revenue disaster if Congress follows through with proposals to phase out or eliminate tax credits for developers of renewable energy products and manufacturers of renewable energy technology.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 implemented the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit in IRC Section 45X, which provides lucrative tax credits for eligible components produced or sold between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2032.

The tax credits will provide billions of dollars of tax benefits for developers and manufacturers of solar equipment if fully implemented.

Congress, however, might snuff out that lucrative tax benefit for solar equipment manufacturers if new legislation is signed into law.

Congress could kill solar tax credit

The U.S. House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, passed its version of the budget reconciliation bill, HR 1, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes proposed revisions to the existing law that would phase out or eliminate the IRC Section 45X tax credits.

The tax credits are still in limbo as the U.S. Senate is still deliberating on HR 1, trying to reconcile its version with the House version.

Eliminating the Section 45X tax credits may force several solar equipment companies out of business, putting thousands more workers in the unemployment line. One company has been pushed over the edge by just the threat of tax credits disappearing.

Solar energy equipment companies face a risk of losing tax credits.

Image source&colon; Shutterstock

Meyer Burger files for bankruptcy protection

Major solar energy equipment manufacturer Meyer Burger Holding Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking a sale of its assets and to halt a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act lawsuit after abruptly closing its Arizona plant.

The Goodyear, Ariz.-based debtor, which is a subsidiary of parent company Meyer Burger AG of Switzerland, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on June 25, listing $100 million to $500 million in assets and about $560 million in debts.

The debtor owes about $89 million from a secured bridge loan, about $370 million in unsecured intercompany loans, and about $100 million in unsecured trade payables and other unsecured debts.

More bankruptcy:

The debtor will seek debtor-in-possession financing, which includes a roll-up of preparation secured debt, and a bidding procedures motion with a stalking-horse bidder offer to purchase the company in a Section 363 sale, according to court papers.

The debtor said financial and operational setbacks from an inundation of the global solar market with low-priced Chinese products and debilitating trade restrictions affected the European market and prompted the debtor to expand into the U.S. solar market with the opening of an Arizona solar module plant.

The debtor faced financial issues related to its Arizona solar module manufacturing facility, as the plant’s production line design didn’t meet the intended solar module design, requiring a six-month delay and redesign of the production lines.

The Arizona facility cost $60 million and 12 months to complete and was expected to produce 10,000 solar modules a day and employ 600 workers.

The facility, however, consists of two partially installed production lines that never reached full production capacity, and a third line installation was delayed because of a shifting business plan and deteriorating financial condition.

A planned Colorado Springs, Colo., solar cell manufacturing facility was discontinued due to the company’s inability to obtain necessary financing.

Meyer Burger was unable to secure adequate financing to complete construction of the Arizona module plant and the Colorado cell facility, and its affiliates in Switzerland and Germany were forced into insolvency proceedings.

The company also faced economic issues from global supply chain disruption.

At full capacity, the company expected to generate almost $1.3 billion in tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, but production setbacks significantly reduced the company’s benefit.

Congressional plans to phase out or eliminate the tax credits caused uncertainty with lenders and investors, which impacted the company’s out-of-court restructuring and recapitalization plans.

After an investor terminated a restructuring and recapitalization deal at the beginning of May 2025, manufacturing challenges and macroeconomic headwinds forced the debtor to lay off all 400 employees at the Arizona plant and shut down production by May 31, 2025.

The shutdown prompted former employees to file a class-action lawsuit alleging the company violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

The debtor’s Chapter 11 filing placed an automatic stay on all litigation while the bankruptcy case proceeds.