The layoffs come on the heels of a cut of 500 workers nationwide in May 2016.
WALL - One of the country's top residential solar companies plans to lay off more than 65 employees in June from its Wall office as it continues to streamline its business model, company officials said Monday.
Princeton-based NRG will release 65 employees who work in its home solar division in Wall. (Andrew Miller/For The Times of Trenton) NRG Home Solar, an arm of Princeton-based NRG Energy, sent notices to the 65 employees stating they would be let go on June 23, spokesman David Schrader confirmed.
The notices come on the heels of a nationwide cut of 500 workers in May 2016 and an announcement that the company would scale back its involvement in the solar integration process.
NRG Home Solar previously controlled all aspects of solar integration, including sales, rooftop installation, lease financing and customer care.
At the time of the cuts, the president of NRG Retail and Reliant, Elizabeth Killinger, said the company entered agreements with two other companies, Sunrun Inc. and Spruce Finance Inc., allowing them to handle some of those aspects of the business.
"This new approach will help us achieve both short and long-term efficiencies and allow us to effectively remain in the residential solar business in a way that makes economic sense for us and will enable our customers to look to us as the energy provider for their whole home, regardless of the way the power is generated," Killinger said.
Schrader said the 65 layoffs in Wall are a result of the company's "pivot to this new business model."
"We made some changes to our Home Solar business model to become an Energy Integrator of solar services, leveraging partners, rather than a vertically integrated solar provider," Schrader wrote in an email sent on Monday morning. "In May 2016, we made a commitment to both our employees and our investors that we would restructure this business to be a profitable one - consistent with what we expect from all of our businesses."
It's unclear how many of the previous 500 layoffs, if any, affected workers from the Wall office. When asked by NJ Advance Media, Schrader declined to provide further details on those cuts.
In May 2016, NRG Home Solar also pulled out of three states -- California, Connecticut and North Carolina -- and refocused on providing services to Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.