Sunrun, a publicly traded photo voltaic firm, is dialing again its Colorado operations.
The San Francisco-based agency is shedding roughly 100 individuals, nearly all of whom work in an Arvada workplace, Sunrun spokesman Wyatt Semaneck mentioned in an electronic mail. He added that represents about 1 % of the corporate’s general workforce.
Sunrun additionally won’t tackle any new initiatives within the state, a gross sales consultant informed BusinessDen on Wednesday. The consultant added that his group obtained the message earlier within the week.
The corporate has constructed and leased photo voltaic panels within the Centennial State since its founding in 2007. It went public in 2015 and mentioned it providers 17 states and Puerto Rico.
Pete Frost labored for Sunrun from 2019 to 2022, and now consults full-time via his personal photo voltaic firm, Avasol. He mentioned roles affected embrace challenge managers, installers and gross sales representatives.
“They’re finishing all of the initiatives they’ve on the books, and their service contracts will likely be taken care of like typical, which isn’t essentially by them,” Frost mentioned. He mentioned he retains in contact with lots of his former colleagues at Sunrun and nonetheless works intently with the corporate.
“They’ll farm that out they usually have already got companions in place,” he mentioned of the upkeep crew.
Frost mentioned he’s been informed the Arvada department, the place the Colorado gross sales and set up group works, is getting “eliminated and gutted.” Sunrun’s Semaneck, nonetheless, maintained that the workplace at 5525 W. 56th Ave., which additionally has a warehouse, will stay.
“Whereas we will likely be discontinuing some Colorado operations, we’re not closing any places of work,” he mentioned.
Frost mentioned Sunrun and Costco ending a gross sales deal in September was a catalyst for the cuts. The corporate additionally ended an analogous settlement with Dwelling Depot in early 2024, although it did come to phrases to promote out of Lowes quickly after, in accordance with Semaneck.
“They tried to be scrappy and work their manner round it, however they simply couldn’t get their numbers to make sense for buyer acquisition,” Frost mentioned.
Ron Maurer, a marketing consultant for California-based photo voltaic firm Powur, mentioned the Colorado market is a troublesome one — one thing which will have factored into Sunrun’s choice to reduce.
“Colorado is sort of a tricky marketplace for photo voltaic anyway,” mentioned Maurer, who labored for Sunrun from 2018 to 2021. “We don’t consider it that manner as a result of we’ve got 300 days of sunshine, however as a result of we’re decrease utility value than many different areas, there’s not as a lot financial savings. The upper the utility value, the extra advantages individuals can get pleasure from (from photo voltaic).”
Whereas Frost agrees with that evaluation, he nonetheless doesn’t perceive the exit. Most of his clients get a return on their funding inside three to seven years, he mentioned.
“It’s mind-boggling,” he mentioned.
Every of their companies are already in talks to rent a few of the now-former Sunrun workers, many whom they labored with over their a long time within the trade.
“They’re gonna be devoured up,” Frost mentioned. “They’re actually good at what they do.”
Arvada will not be Sunrun’s most distinguished actual property in Colorado. The corporate additionally has a 118,000-square-foot workplace at 717 seventeenth St. in downtown Denver, which it leased in 2019 — a large enough deal that Gov. Jared Polis attended the ribbon-cutting. Frost mentioned the company group works out of the area, dealing with nationwide accounts.
When a BusinessDen reporter visited the downtown workplace on Wednesday, doorways had been locked, the lights had been dimmed and no one was in sight.
“We nonetheless have the downtown workplace,” Sunrun’s Semaneck mentioned. “Some groups proceed to work from that location.”
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