SunPower details Bay Area job cuts, will slash more than 100 jobs in region

SAN JOSE — SunPower has decided to chop 100-plus Bay Area jobs, part of the company’s move to launch wrenching cutbacks and reduced costs in a California solar energy market whose outlook has darkened.

San Jose-based SunPower, a solar energy and installation company, had previously revealed it would slash 1,000 jobs worldwide as part of the winding down of its residential direct sales business.

Of these job cuts, about 129 will impact SunPower workers in the Bay Area, according to an official notice sent to the state Employment Development Department.

Here’s how the SunPower layoffs will affect workers in the Bay Area, as detailed in SunPower’s WARN letter:

— 64 job cuts in San Jose.

— 65 layoffs in Berkeley.

SunPower described all of the job cuts as permanent.

“There will be a total closure of the SunPower Residential Install Operations Centers,” the company stated in the WARN letter.

Changes in state regulations governing solar energy metering in California have helped to dampen demand for solar installations.

“We are moving to a low fixed-cost model that we believe we will be able to better flex when the market is up or down,” Tom Werner, SunPower’s principal executive officer, stated in a letter to employees this week. “While we worked hard to avoid this outcome, the market has been slower to recover than we initially expected.”