SunEdison Inc.’s potential bankruptcy would be the biggest ever in the renewable-energy industry, and the largest U.S. failure in more than a year, and it also promises to be more complicated than most, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The world’s biggest clean-power developer had total debt of $11.7 billion as of Sept. 30, the last comprehensive figure it reported, after a two-year buying binge of wind and solar assets on six continents. The company is preparing to file in New York. If it does seek protection from creditors, the proceedings may drag in SunEdison’s two publicly traded holding company units, TerraForm Power Inc. and TerraForm Global Inc. A SunEdison bankruptcy also has the potential to trigger defaults on multiple wind and solar farms that are generating revenue from selling electricity. SunEdison’s global expansion effort was fueled by a complex web of financing that includes loans from banks and hedge funds, credit lines and the initial public offerings of the TerraForm units. The company acknowledged in a regulatory filing on April 15 that it’s talking with creditors about financing to carry the company through bankruptcy reorganization. Potential creditors may also include insurance companies, at least one university and the residential solar installer that SunEdison tried to buy for $1.9 billion, Vivint Solar Inc., which sued for damages after the deal fell apart in March. TerraForm Global is pursuing another suit, alleging that SunEdison misused the holding company’s cash.
