TerraForm Power Inc., a yieldco founded and controlled by bankrupt clean-energy giant SunEdison Inc., agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by billionaire David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management LP, Bloomberg News reported today. As part of the settlement, TerraForm agreed to segregate its information technology systems from SunEdison and appoint an additional independent director to its board, it said yesterday. It also said it would grant TerraForm Chief Operating Officer Thomas Studebaker — or a successor in that role — responsibility for its “ordinary course commercial operations” subject to the authority of interim Chief Executive Officer Peter Blackmore. TerraForm, an owner of operating wind and solar farms, has failed to file its 2015 annual report, and has attributed the delays to SunEdison’s struggles. SunEdison, which attributed its own delayed report to “deficient information technology controls” from its reporting system, has provided the systems its yieldcos rely on to complete reports. In January, Appaloosa sued to block SunEdison’s planned $1.9 billion purchase of rooftop solar company Vivint Solar Inc. Under the deal, TerraForm would have bought Vivint assets. The Vivint deal collapsed in March, a little more than a month before SunEdison filed for bankruptcy.
