Your solar company went out of business. Now what?
It has happened to hundreds of thousands of American households since 2024. Most of what you own still works, and more of your warranty survives than people assume.
You call the number on the paperwork and it rings out. The website is down, or still up and answered by nobody. Meanwhile the loan payment leaves your account every month exactly as before.
This is not a rare misfortune. Since 2023 roughly a hundred US solar companies have filed for bankruptcy or shut down, including two of the largest residential installers in the country — one Chapter 11 alone affected more than half a million customers. If your installer has gone, you are in extremely large company, and that is genuinely useful: an entire service industry has grown up around orphaned systems.
What survives and what does not
This is the distinction that determines everything you do next, and it is the one most homeowners get wrong — assuming everything died with the company, when in practice the most expensive coverage usually survives.
| Coverage | Held by | Typically survives? |
|---|---|---|
| Panel performance/product warranty | Panel manufacturer | Yes. Often 25 years. Independent of who installed it. |
| Inverter warranty | Inverter manufacturer | Usually yes. Shorter term — commonly 10–12 years. |
| Battery warranty | Battery manufacturer | Usually yes, on its own terms. |
| Workmanship / installation warranty | The installer | Often not. This is the one that dies with the company, and it is the one covering roof leaks and wiring faults. |
| Production guarantee | The installer or a third party | Usually dies with the company unless separately underwritten. |
| Monitoring service | Often the installer's account | Frequently lost — but usually re-establishable directly with the equipment maker. |
| Your loan or lease | The lender or lease company | Survives entirely. A separate company. Payments continue. |
The pattern: what the manufacturers promised generally stands. What the installer promised generally does not.
- “company went out of business — multiple panels out and no one to fix them” Homeowner complaint record, TX
- “no one has gotten back to me” Homeowner complaint record, TX — during the company's bankruptcy
- “nothing would be covered under warranty” Homeowner complaint record, UT
- “I have been unable to reach anyone for any advice or warranty assistance” Homeowner complaint record, TX
What to do, in order
The first week
- Find your paperwork and identify the actual equipment Panel make and model, inverter make and model, battery if any, plus install date and system size. Everything else depends on knowing this. If the paperwork is gone, the equipment has labels on it and an electrician can read them.
- Register or claim the equipment warranties directly with the manufacturers The most valuable single step. Manufacturers deal with orphaned systems constantly and have processes for it. You do not need the installer to exist to make a panel warranty claim.
- Re-establish monitoring in your own name Often the installer held the account. Contact the inverter manufacturer to get access transferred to you — otherwise you are blind to a failure, which is how outages run for months.
- Confirm your system actually has PTO Some systems were orphaned before commissioning. Call your utility and ask directly. If PTO never landed, that is a different and more urgent problem — see the activation guide.
- Keep paying the loan or lease Unwelcome but important: the finance company is a separate business and your obligation to it is unaffected. Missing payments damages your credit and does not pressure a company that no longer exists.
- File a claim in the bankruptcy if there is one If money was paid for work never done, there will be a claims process with a deadline. Recovery is often small, but filing costs little and missing the deadline forecloses it entirely.
Finding someone to take the system on
Plenty of established solar companies now service systems they did not install — it has become a normal line of business. Expect them to want an inspection first, and expect to pay for service that would once have been under warranty. That is the real cost of the workmanship warranty having died.
What a new servicer will want, and what to ask them
- Bring: equipment list, install date, permit records, monitoring access The more of this you have, the cheaper the first visit. Permit records can be pulled from your city portal if your paperwork is gone.
- Ask whether they are certified for your specific equipment Manufacturer warranty claims often require a certified installer to perform the work. Using an uncertified company can cost you the one warranty you still have.
- Ask what they will and will not warranty on someone else's installation Reasonable companies warranty their own repair but not the original install. Get that boundary in writing so it is clear later.
- Get the diagnostic fee and the repair estimate separately Same discipline as any trade — know what the visit costs before anyone drives out.
If you are still choosing an installer
The honest lesson from the last two years is that a twenty-five year workmanship warranty is a promise about a company's survival, and a great many solar companies did not survive. That does not mean warranties are worthless — it means you should weigh who is making the promise at least as heavily as its length.
Fragile
- Company founded very recently, scaling fast.
- Door-to-door sales as the primary channel.
- A 25-year workmanship warranty from a young business.
- Heavy discounting and pressure to sign today.
- No local premises you can visit.
- Warranty administered by the installer alone, nobody else.
Durable
- Long local trading history you can verify.
- Certified for the equipment brands they install.
- Third-party or insurance-backed workmanship warranty.
- Manufacturer warranties registered in your name.
- Monitoring account set up in your name at handover.
- Straight answer about what happens if they cease trading.
Find a company that services orphaned systems
Who takes on other people's systems
Solar companies by city
Get your orphaned system serviced
Tell us your city and what equipment you have. You get local solar companies who service systems they did not install — and the manufacturer warranties you still hold are worth asking them about.
Get matched with an installer Check your activation statusQuestions homeowners actually ask
My solar company went out of business — who fixes my panels?
Any licensed solar company that services third-party systems, and this has become a normal line of business given how many installers have closed since 2023.
Before you pay for repairs, check what is still under manufacturer warranty: panel and inverter warranties are held by the equipment makers, not your installer, and they generally survive the installer's closure. Ask any new company whether they are certified for your equipment brands, because manufacturer claims often require it.
What happens to my solar warranty if the installer goes bankrupt?
It splits. Manufacturer warranties survive — panels (often 25 years), inverters (commonly 10–12), batteries — because those are promises from the equipment makers.
The workmanship warranty usually does not, since it was a promise from the company that no longer exists. That is the coverage for roof leaks, wiring faults and installation defects, so it is the expensive one to lose. Production guarantees generally die too, unless separately underwritten.
Do I still have to pay my solar loan if the company went out of business?
Yes. The lender or lease company is a separate business from the installer, and your obligation to them is unaffected by the installer's failure.
Stopping payments to force a response damages your credit and applies no pressure to a company that no longer exists. Treat the service problem and the payment obligation as two separate matters, and pursue the first through the manufacturers, a new servicer, and any bankruptcy claims process.
How do I get my solar monitoring back if the installer is gone?
Contact the inverter manufacturer directly — the monitoring platform is usually theirs, and the installer merely held the account. Manufacturers deal with this constantly and can generally transfer access to you as the system owner.
Do it promptly. Without monitoring you cannot see a failure, and the longest outages in the complaint record are precisely the ones nobody was watching.
My solar company closed before the system was turned on. What now?
This is the urgent version, because an uncommissioned system produces nothing while any loan continues. Call your utility first and establish exactly where the interconnection application stands — whether one was ever filed, and what is outstanding.
Then get a licensed local installer to quote on completing it: inspection corrections, interconnection paperwork and commissioning are all transferable work. Also file in the bankruptcy claims process if money was paid for work never done.
How can I tell if a solar company will still exist in ten years?
You cannot know, but you can weigh it. Favour a long verifiable local trading history, certification for the brands they install, and — most usefully — a workmanship warranty that is third-party administered or insurance-backed rather than resting on the company alone.
Ask directly: "if your company stopped trading, who honours this warranty?" A good answer names someone else. Offence at the question is itself an answer.