North Liberty solar installation company closes

NORTH LIBERTY — Moxie Solar, a North Liberty based solar installation company, closed this month after coming under new management earlier this year.

“The liabilities exceeded the available cash and liquidity,” Siobhan Briley, a lawyer who represented the company, said. “Unfortunately, … they just ended up with not enough money to pay bills and claims.”

According to a July article by the Iowa Captial Dispatch, Moxie Solar and several other Iowa solar companies were under investigation by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. Several of the companies had one or two complaints lodged against them with the office. Moxie has 26 complaints.

Moxie Solar was founded in 2008, with offices in 27 states. It employed 45 people in Johnson County, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

In March, Josh and Mackenzie Bates sued Moxie Solar in Johnson County District Court. The Bateses claimed they entered into an agreement with Moxie Solar in August 2021 to install solar panels at their house that included a specific racking system and an Enphase Encharge 10 kwh battery.

According to the lawsuit, Moxie Solar installed the solar panels in October 2021 but used the wrong racking system and never installed the battery. The company reportedly acknowledged it used the wrong system in December 2021 but had failed to resolve the issue by the time the lawsuit was filed.

In November, Moxie Solar went under the management of Lorentzen Investments, a Chicago-based investment company, after former CEO Jason Hall left. Lorentzen Investments did not respond to a call requesting comment Wednesday.

Briley said the company’s creditors were emailed that the company was closing Dec. 2, and that it would work with its secured creditors “to conduct an orderly liquidation of assets according to applicable laws. There does not appear to be sufficient assets to accommodate unsecured creditors.”

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