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Cailianshe News on August 7 (Edited by Zhao Hao)In the early trading of U.S. stocks on Tuesday (August 6), U.S. solar manufacturer SunPower (stock code: SPWR) fell to a record low of $0.333, a drop of nearly 60%, and narrowed to around 40% at the close.

On Monday evening (August 5th) local time, SunPower filed an application with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, seeking relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which will provide other interested parties with the opportunity to make a competitive bid for SunPower's assets.

While Chapter 11 is a bankruptcy reorganization proceeding, SunPower confirmed in a press release on Monday that "following the expedited sale process, the company plans to liquidate all remaining assets and conduct an orderly and efficient wind-down of the business."

In a press release, SunPower announced that it has reached an asset purchase agreement with competitor Complete Solaria, which will acquire SunPower's Blue Raven Solar business, New Homes business and non-installation dealer network assets for $45 million in cash.

The one-time solar giant, which has about $2 billion in long-term debt and has been trying to avoid a default since October, has said in court papers after replacing its chief executive and restructuring operations earlier this year.

"SunPower faces a severe liquidity crisis due to a sharp decline in solar market demand and SunPower's inability to obtain new capital," Matthew Henry, SunPower's chief transformation officer, wrote in the bankruptcy filing.

It is worth mentioning that three weeks ago, an investment bank learned that SunPower told dealers that it would no longer support new leasing and power purchase agreement sales, nor support the installation of new projects and stopped shipping. At that time, analysts generally believed that SunPower was on the verge of bankruptcy.

On July 18, Guggenheim Securities cut its price target on SunPower from $1 to $0, with analysts Joseph Osha and Hilary Cauley writing in a report, “This effectively marks the end of SPWR as an operating business.”

Analysts believe that there are two very important catalysts for the growth of rooftop solar business in the United States: one is low interest rates, which make the cost of such installations affordable to consumers; the other is state-level policies, which allow households that install equipment to sell excess solar power to the grid to receive generous rewards.

But the reality is that the industry has been hit hard by high interest rates from the Federal Reserve and subsidy changes in California, the largest U.S. solar market and home to SunPower, which cut the amount of money households and businesses get for sending excess solar power to the grid.

Joseph Osha of Guggenheim said recently, "In many ways, SunPower is a pioneering company. They developed some of the earliest solar technologies and had many firsts. But bad decisions plus bad luck have led to this point, which is really regrettable."