Battery producer Powin recordsdata for chapter months after touchdown $200M mortgage

Battery producer Powin filed for chapter on Wednesday. The Oregon-based firm stated it has greater than $300 million in debt.

The Chapter 11 submitting will let the corporate proceed working whereas it restructures its debt.

Powin manufactured grid-scale batteries utilizing lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells from China. Powin had been trying to find various home suppliers, however the provide chain wasn’t sufficiently mature, Jeff Waters, the corporate’s former CEO, advised Bloomberg in April.

The corporate laid off practically 250 staff earlier this month, and simply 85 stay, lower than a fifth of what it began the 12 months with. Alongside the chapter submitting, Waters was changed by Brian Krane, Powin’s chief initiatives officer.

Powin was a survivor of the primary clear tech increase over a decade in the past. The corporate was taken non-public in 2018, and it acquired $135 million in development fairness in 2022 from buyers together with Power Affect Companions, GIC, and Trilantic Power Companions. Extra just lately, it secured a $200 million revolving credit score facility from KKR.

Lately, Powin had grown alongside the increase in grid-scale battery storage, ranked third within the U.S. when it comes to put in capability and fourth worldwide. The corporate didn’t say what spurred the sudden rise in debt, although given its reliance on Chinese language LFP cells, tariffs might have performed a roll.