The failure of energy business SolarZero has left many out of pocket. Photo: 123RF
A small solar panel installing company owner says he and his staff are devastated by the failure of SolarZero.
The energy business announced its liquidation last Tuesday.
The board of the company owned by international investment firm BlackRock pulled the pin, blaming "unsustainable operating losses".
Almost 600 businesses are owed close to $40 million by SolarZero.
Hundreds of employees are also owed more than $1.7m.
Josh's company worked installing the systems and he is one of those unsecured creditors.
Josh, who did not want to give his last name, told Checkpoint it was a huge blow to him and his staff.
"This is massive. This is just unbelievable the damage it's caused, it's just phenomenal.
"We're in debt $70,000. That's just for our November installs that we did."
Josh said he had been working with SolarZero for over five years.
"Basically like an employee, but we're a contractor. We've been doing everything they require."
Nearly 600 businesses owed $40 million by SolarZero
Josh said his company did frequent training to meet SolarZero's standards.
"Unfortunately for us we did the wrong move and put all of our eggs in their basket and now it's just blown up, and my business is no longer.
"All of my guys are redundant as of 20th December and there's nothing I can do."
Many of his staff were young apprentices and have nowhere to go, Josh said.
"You get this phenomenal bunch of guys who are young and energetic and they're all keen to go to work and they enjoy their job, and then all of a sudden, you have to tell them, it's all over."
"It's pretty hard," Josh said, choking up.
He is having to sell assets to try and get back some of his money.
"Nobody's got any work three weeks out from Christmas to keep us going."
Josh said there was little warning of the company's troubles, until a stop-work order came through recently.
"We still had bookings in the calendar ... everything seemed normal."
"Somebody had to know what's going on. The politicians need to step in. It's ridiculous."
BlackRock is the world's largest investment firm and in August 2023 set up a $2 billion fund with the previous Labour government to invest in green energy.
Josh said that morally, he felt BlackRock should "just pay us for the work we've done."
"It wouldn't be quite so heartbreaking if at least come 20th of December we got our November payment, then we could probably survive for another month.
"At least pay us for what you owe us."
Former SolarZero employee speaks out about Blackrock
In a statement to Checkpoint, BlackRock said they provided significant funding to the company over the past two years and did not take any capital or charge fees to SolarZero.
The decision to liquidate SolarZero was made solely by its board, who said the business was not sustainable without significant restructuring.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she still has questions about the due diligence undertaken before the government's Green Investment fund loaned money to the company.
She also wants to know how the deal was structured, and how that $115 million investment was monitored.
Josh said SolarZero's failure will have repercussions throughout the industry.
"I think it's the scale of SolarZero nation-wide - I'm only one. There's at least 50 other installers nation-wide."
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