SunEdison

SunEdison's 2016 bankruptcy was the largest in solar history - $16 billion in debt. The company invented the yieldco model: acquire solar projects, drop them into publicly traded vehicles, use the proceeds to buy more projects. CEO Ahmad Chatila built an empire spanning solar, wind, and semiconductor materials. But the model required constantly rising yieldco stock prices to fund acquisitions. When solar project returns compressed and yieldco shares fell, SunEdison faced a liquidity spiral. The company's $2.2 billion Vivint Solar deal became the trigger, failing to close and destroying remaining credibility.