Photo | Courtesy of Solar Wolf Energy
Ted Strzelecki, former CEO of Solar Wolf Energy and current chairman of the company
May 13, 2022
Auburn solar company abruptly closes, amid legal trouble & unfinished projects
Courtesy | Solar Wolf Energy
Solar Wolf Energy's headquarters in Auburn
By Katherine Hamilton
Auburn-based solar company Solar Wolf Energy announced abruptly in a Wednesday Facebook post it will close its operations, leaving more than 50 Yarmouth residents without fully installed solar panel systems, despite having paid.
Solar Wolf was selected in 2019 as a partner in the Solarize Mass Program, a state-sponsored operation by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The Town of Yarmouth received grant funding to promote the use of solar energy among residents, for which Solar Wolf was selected, according to a Thursday press release from the Town.
Since then, the Auburn company signed numerous contracts and, although some systems were completed, still has more than 50 unfinished contracts where installation is not complete.
“We don’t exactly know what the situation is, but they signed contracts with individual people,” Town Administrator Robert Whritenour said on Friday. “This represents people’s life savings. It is a very difficult situation.”
Solar Wolf has been unresponsive to numerous phone calls from WBJ, and the reason for the closure is unclear from the company’s public communications.
In a Facebook post at 2 a.m. on Friday morning, the company said it would contact customers via email on May 20.
“We will be contacting you and planning for you to have funds returned, materials delivered / returned and or a combination depending on status,” the post said. “We will also be aligning those in transition with connections, inspections, and avenues to possibly have their systems completed.”
On May 6, the solar company posted a 13-paragraph Facebook post alleging a broken business agreement between Solar Wolf and SunPower, a California-based solar company who was selling solar panels to Solar Wolf, according to the post. Solar Wolf said, after a series of disagreements, it received official notice that SunPower was severing all ties with the Auburn company.
Five days later, Solar Wolf announced its closure, citing the previous post about SunPower: “It is with broken hearts that we must announce that SWE will have to close. As we previously stated in a PR we have had a rather abrupt disruption from our exclusive distribution partner.”
SunPower could not be reached for comment.
Solar Wolf was sued three times in 2021 for nearly $900,000 for alleged failure to pay for marketing services and commercial leases. The company was founded by Ted Strzelecki, who was the subject of many of the allegations made last year, and is also the founder and chair of Roof Wolf and Aqua Wolf Plumbing.
The case is currently under investigation by state authorities, including the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, according to the Town of Yarmouth’s press release.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
Anonymous
June 17, 2022
This is the least shocking news for anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes with Ted. I’ve never met a smaller man more in love with himself.
Until the coward deleted all Solar Wolf social media he was throwing himself a pity party on Facebook and blaming the pandemic/supply chain issues, but at this point it’s clear that the company was a straight up scam. Guessing from all of their recent lawsuits it seems like they ripped off vendors for hundreds of thousands of dollars (a quick Google search shows this started well before the pandemic hit) and then used that stolen money to buy company cars, bigger office spaces, etc, etc. It was all about looks and ego with no actual consideration for the people they hurt in the process. Such a shame that this company was able to get away with this for so long. The AG needs to file criminal charges. He has done this before and unless there are legitimate consequences he will do this again.
Anonymous
May 14, 2022
It sounds like the wolf is at the door of Solar Wolf. Likely they are feeling a supply pinch and that has created a cash crisis for continued operations. It's tough in solar right now. High demand for products and low availability. SunPower, like many solar panel vendors is the conduit for a solar module supply chain that originates mostly in China. A year ago the Biden Administration embargoed modules from certain PRC based manufacturers due to concerns that component parts were made or sourced through suppliers using forced and in some cases slave labor (which is a violation of UN Human Rights rules). The Commerce Department issued orders to hold shipments at West Coast ports if it was found that these goods were made by Chinese manufacturers using forced labor and as a result there are many containers sitting in Long Beach that have been seized. While no doubt this is probably not the whole reason SWE is going out, it's likely a big contributor. All solar developers and installers from home rooftop installers to utility-scale developers are seeing bottlenecks in supplies of solar modules coming out of China. Many have turned to vendors manufacturing in South Korea and Vietnam though these units likely come at a higher cost.
2 Comments