Sun Volt out of business?

[Julian Egelstaff]

Hello,

I was surprised to learn recently that this company, with over 20 years of history, is now out of business. Bad for me since they installed our system, so if there's any maintenance required, I'll have to find someone else. Does anyone know what happened?

One of my neighours also had Sun Volts install a system on their house, and they do need a couple things looked at. If anyone knows any former Sun Volts staff or any backchannels to get in touch, it would be appreciated.

Thanks!

--Julian

[Rob Beckers]

If you hear more about this please post Julian. I am interested (from a professional perspective) why something like this can happen, in a time when there is lots of solar installation work. I wonder if FIT/MicroFIT played a role: There are now so many companies that it's actually getting harder to get PV jobs as a business (and the prices & profits have taken a nosedive).

-RoB-

[Julian Egelstaff]

I am sure the uncertainty about FIT/microFIT with the coming election must have had a negative effect on the market. And the equipment is so expensive, if they ended up with a bunch of stuff in the warehouse, and contracts dried up to move the stuff, maybe they just ran out of cash and couldn't pay bills and payroll. I would have thought they would only order from the supplier when they had firm contracts with end customers, but who knows.

Or maybe it was too much expansion too fast. It wouldn't be the first business to fall victim to expanding too quickly and being unable to sustain itself.

Anyway, just guesses, it would be great to know for sure. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

--Julian

[Brent Hollen]

I found this new Energy report today. It might be what you’re looking for - I found it at http://www.fastmr.com/prod/281393_global_gas_shales_development_2011_north_am erica.aspx.
Let me know your ideas.

[Rob Beckers]

Brent, I'm not sure how a link to a summary of a shale gas report (which you can buy from that site) relates to PV related businesses going out of business during a PV boom in Ontario. Please explain...

-RoB-