The Business Solar Credit Ends With 2027, and Long Island's Leading Installer Is Folding Into a Georgia Cell Maker

SUNation Energy, the Ronkonkoma solar contractor that reports it installed more solar capacity than any other contractor in its New York market last year, is on its way to becoming a small part of Suniva, a solar cell manufacturer based outside Atlanta. On September 4 the two companies amended their merger agreement, and on September 8 Suniva announced it had completed an $835 million financing to build a second cell factory in South Carolina. Under the deal, Suniva's owners are expected to hold about 98.2 percent of the combined company and SUNation's current shareholders about 1.8 percent, with the business operating under the Suniva name.

The merger is the headline. The numbers SUNation has filed along the way are the more useful part for a Long Island business, because they show in one company's books what the federal tax changes did to local solar demand, and which part of the market is still standing.

A home business that fell by more than half

In its quarterly report for the three months ended June 30, SUNation said revenue from its New York operation fell 45 percent from a year earlier, to about $5.4 million. Residential contract revenue in New York dropped 62 percent, and the number of home systems installed fell 59 percent.

The company attributes the drop partly to the end of the federal residential clean energy credit, which homeowners could claim only for spending through December 31, 2025, and partly to weather that cost it installation days in the first half of the year. Residential work made up 85 percent of SUNation's revenue in 2025, so the loss reached the whole company. It has reduced headcount this year, and its financial statements carry a going concern warning: management reports substantial doubt about its ability to keep operating for the next twelve months without additional capital.

The part that grew

Commercial contract revenue in New York rose 32 percent in the same quarter. Service revenue rose 26 percent, which the company attributes mainly to remove and reinstall jobs, the work that follows when the roof under an existing array has to be replaced.

That split tracks the tax law. The federal tax and spending law signed on July 4, 2025 ended the homeowner credit but left the business credit, the Section 48E clean electricity investment credit, in place for a limited time. Under the statute and the Internal Revenue Service's Notice 2025-42, a solar project that began construction after July 4, 2026 has to be placed in service by December 31, 2027 to qualify. Battery storage is treated differently, and SUNation's annual report describes the storage credit as continuing through 2033.

What the amendment changed

The September 4 amendment eased one closing condition, allowing SUNation to reach closing with net cash as low as negative $2.5 million rather than negative $1.5 million. It adds a shareholder vote to raise SUNation's authorized shares from 1 billion to 1.5 billion, and it provides for converting or repaying up to about $2.6 million in loans from company insiders. The deal still needs SUNation shareholder approval and must meet its other conditions before it closes.

Suniva's South Carolina plant, which it expects to complete in late 2027, is a manufacturing project rather than an installation business. Nothing in the filings describes changes to SUNation's Long Island crews, service department or customer warranties, and members should not assume a change in either direction.

What it means for members

If you own a commercial building and have looked at rooftop solar, the calendar is now the decision. A system that has not already started construction must be operating by the end of 2027 to earn the federal investment credit. Commercial projects take months to design, permit and connect to the grid, so a project still in the talking stage in the middle of next year is cutting it close. Ask any installer for a written schedule that works backward from December 31, 2027, and have your accountant confirm eligibility before you sign.

If you already have a SUNation system on your roof, pull your warranty and service agreement now and note which entity you contracted with. A merger does not cancel a contract, but knowing your paperwork before the corporate name changes will save you a phone call later.

If a roof replacement is anywhere in your capital plan, budget separately for taking the array off and putting it back, the one line in the company's report that grew for a reason every building owner will recognize. And if you sell into home improvement trades, from roofing to electrical work, the residential figures here are the clearest local measure yet of how much demand the end of the homeowner credit removed.