Renova addresses concerns amid furlough and SunPower default: CEO assures customers and plans for operational resumption

It's been a week since Renova announced a pause in their activities and a furlough of about 300 employees.

The announcement coming shortly after their parent company, SunPower defaulted.

Since then, several concerns have risen.

One of them regarding Renova's vehicles. People have written into our newsroom saying Renova's vehicles have disappeared from their main lot.

But we went to Renova's Corporate Center in Palm Desert, and found a fleet of vehicles parked in an adjacent parking lot that's not visible from the street.

Another pressing concern dealt with paper checks that were distributed to employees on the day they were furloughed.

According to emails into our newsroom and comments on our website, those checks allegedly bounced back.

I had the chance to speak with Renova's team today, and their accountant hasn't seen any problems with those checks. They also haven't seen any complaints come in to their HR department.

Renova's CEO and Founder, Vincent Battalgia also sent out an updated statement to his customers to help ease concerns a portion of that memo saying quote, "Please know that we are constantly working towards a solution that will allow us to resume our operations fully and effectively. That work is paying off right now, as we are working on a solution with new partners to help bring everything back to normal."

We had the chance to speak with Battalgia earlier this week as he continued to ease customer’s concerns. 

"The doors are open, your questions about your solar system. Your solar system will continue to operate no matter is SunPower is around, or not. Our issue in pausing Renova's operation is purely surrounding SunPower."

The memo sent out by Renova’s Founder and CEO also featured a section towards the end that addressed the ‘Four Most Important Things Renova Customers Need to Know.'

According to the memo, customers are frequently asking if they need to continue making their Sunpower lease payments. 

The memo instructs customers to keep making their payment because if SunPower were to cease operations another company would purchase their lease portfolio. 

The Renova representative we spoke with says she’s hopeful for the company’s future and says some employees on their administrative side may start coming into the office as early as next week.

The company says they'll be available for further comment starting next week.