My Solar Installer Went Out of Business — Now What?

Reviewed by:

Samantha Greer

Last updated: March 1, 2026

The Short Version (Read This First)

If your solar installer closed, here is what the research confirms:

• Your panels are almost certainly still generating power. The system doesn’t need the company to run.
• Manufacturer warranties on your hardware survive — with one important exception (covered below).
• Your workmanship warranty is gone. There is no path to recover it.
• Your loan or lease obligation does not pause. You still owe what you agreed to.
• What happens next depends on which of four situations you’re in. Scroll to “Step 1” to find yours.

This guide doesn’t sugarcoat the situation. Some of what you paid for is recoverable. Some of it isn’t. We’ll tell you which is which.

Why This Is Happening?

You are not alone, and this is not a niche problem. According to Solar Insure, California alone has over 820,000 abandoned solar installations. Nationally, the wave of installer bankruptcies accelerated sharply between 2022 and 2025, driven by rising interest rates, the end of the federal solar tax credit on December 31, 2025, and reduced installer demand following California’s transition to NEM 3.0.

Major companies that have shut down or filed for bankruptcy include SunPower, Titan Solar Power, ADT Solar, Sunnova, Vision Solar, Pink Energy, PosiGen, and Mosaic (the lender). These are not obscure regional players — they were among the largest residential solar companies in the country. If your installer is one of them, or a smaller company that quietly closed, your situation is one that tens of thousands of homeowners are navigating right now.

Understanding why California’s NEM 3.0 shift contributed to this industry shakeout can help make sense of the timeline.

Step 1: Figure Out Which Situation You’re In

Your options depend entirely on where you are in the process. These are four distinct situations with different paths forward.

Don’t know whether your PTO was filed? Check your email for a letter or confirmation from your utility. If you can’t find one, call your utility directly — they can tell you whether your system is on file.

What Warranties Actually Survive

This is where most articles mislead homeowners. Here is the honest breakdown.

Manufacturer warranties — usually survive, with one critical exception

If your installer and your panel or inverter manufacturer are separate companies, your equipment warranties remain valid. The installer closing has no effect on them. These typically include:

• Panel product warranty — covers defects in the panels themselves, usually 10–25 years, provided by the manufacturer (REC, Qcells, Canadian Solar, etc.)
• Panel performance warranty — guarantees a minimum output level over time, usually 25 years
• Inverter warranty — covers the inverter hardware, usually 5–15 years, provided by the manufacturer (Enphase, SolarEdge, etc.)

The critical exception: If your installer was also the manufacturer — meaning they sold you panels under their own brand — the manufacturer warranty may be gone too. SunPower is the primary example of this. SunPower-branded panels were manufactured by Maxeon, which is a separate company and has confirmed it will honor warranties for SunPower customers. But this situation is not universal. Check your paperwork to confirm who actually manufactured your equipment versus who installed it.

What manufacturer warranties don’t cover: Labor. If your Enphase microinverter fails under warranty and Enphase sends a replacement unit, you still pay the service technician to install it. This surprises many homeowners.

Workmanship warranty — gone

This warranty, which covered the quality of the installation itself — roof penetrations, wiring, mounting — was provided by the installer. When the installer closes, this warranty goes with them. There is no workaround, no state program that universally restores it, and no manufacturer who covers installation quality. If you discover a roof leak caused by poor panel mounting, that repair comes out of pocket.

Recovering Your Monitoring Access

Your monitoring portal — Enphase Enlighten, mySolarEdge, the Tesla app — is hosted by the manufacturer, not the installer. The data doesn’t disappear when an installer closes. However, if your installer set up the account under their company credentials rather than your personal email, you may not have direct access.

What to do: Contact the manufacturer directly with your system’s serial number and proof of homeownership (a utility bill showing the address is usually sufficient). Enphase, SolarEdge, and Tesla all have support processes for ownership transfers. This is not a quick fix — expect it to take time — but it is a documented path.

Why this matters beyond just seeing numbers: Losing monitoring access can affect your inverter warranty in some cases, and will make it much harder to notice if your system stops producing correctly. A system that looks fine from the outside may be generating significantly less power than it should. Without monitoring, you won’t know until you see your utility bill.

If Your PTO Was Never Filed

This is the most urgent situation. Permission to Operate (PTO) is the utility’s official approval for your system to connect to the grid. Without it, your system cannot legally export power, you cannot participate in net metering, and you may be producing power you’re not getting credit for.

Approximately one in five solar installations experiences PTO delays, and if your installer disappeared mid-process, you may have panels on your roof that are generating nothing — or generating power you’re paying for twice.

What to do:

1. Contact your utility directly and ask whether an interconnection application was submitted for your address. They can tell you its status.
2. If an application is on file but incomplete, ask what documentation is missing. In many cases, a new licensed installer can complete the submission with the existing paperwork.
3. Check with your local building department to confirm whether an inspection was completed. Inspections can expire depending on your jurisdiction — don’t assume it’s still valid.
4. Be aware that if your system was installed during a policy transition period, your PTO date may affect your net metering rate. California homeowners should understand how NEM 3.0 billing works before assuming what rate they’ll receive once PTO is granted.

Finding a New Service Provider

Not every solar company will take on an orphaned system. Many installers prefer to service their own equipment. Be direct when you call: ask specifically whether they service systems they did not install, and whether they have experience with your inverter brand.

The most reliable starting point is to use the manufacturer’s own certified installer locator.

Installers in these directories are certified by the manufacturer to service that equipment, which means they can process warranty claims on your behalf — something an uncertified technician generally cannot do.

NABCEP certification is a useful baseline indicator of competence, but certification alone doesn’t guarantee a company will take on your system or that their pricing will be reasonable. Get quotes from at least two providers before committing.

If You Have a Lease or PPA (Not a Loan)

This situation is fundamentally different from owning your system.

If you leased your panels, the financing company owns the equipment, not you. That changes your position significantly:

• The financing company has a strong financial incentive to keep the system operational, because it’s their asset generating monthly payments from you.
• In many cases, when installers go bankrupt, lease agreements are transferred to a new servicer. You should receive written notice if this happens. Watch your mail carefully — bankruptcy court notices often look like junk mail.
• If Mosaic was your lender, note that Mosaic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025. Your loan may have been transferred to Solar Servicing LLC. Contact your lender directly to confirm who currently holds your agreement.

If you have a lease and the system stops working: Contact the financing company, not the installer. They are responsible for maintenance under the lease terms and have networks of service providers. You may need to be persistent, but the legal obligation to maintain the system falls on them, not you.

One important warning: Do not stop making loan or lease payments without legal advice. Missed payments have credit consequences regardless of whether your system is working. This is true even if your system was installed by a company that has since closed. If you believe you have grounds for a contract dispute, consult a consumer protection attorney before stopping payments.

State Protections: What Exists and What Doesn’t

Several articles will tell you that state consumer protections “may help.” That is technically true but often misleading.

Here is the honest picture:

Licensing and bonding requirements vary widely. Only 12 states have solar-specific contractor licensing requirements. Bond requirements differ dramatically by state — California, Arizona, and Nevada have meaningful bond requirements, but Texas, Pennsylvania, and many others have no statewide mandate. If your installer was bonded and your state has a bond claim process, it may be worth investigating. But do not assume a bond exists or that a claim will be straightforward.

State attorneys general have gotten involved in some of the larger cases — Connecticut sued Sunrun for deceptive practices, and multiple state AGs opposed Mosaic’s attempt to strip consumer protections in bankruptcy. These actions help in the aggregate but are unlikely to resolve individual homeowner situations quickly.

The most reliable state resource for your specific situation is your state’s public utilities commission (PUC) or consumer protection office. They can tell you what, if anything, applies to your situation. The IREC National Solar Licensing Database (irecusa.org/solar-licensing-database) is the best reference for understanding what licensing requirements exist in your state.

We won’t list specific protections by state here because they change frequently and vary at the city and county level. Citing state rules that may be outdated would not serve you well.

The Document Checklist

If you haven’t already, gather these now. You’ll need them for warranty claims, PTO completion, and any new service provider.

• Original signed contract
• Equipment spec sheets (panel brand/model, inverter brand/model, battery if applicable)
• Permit packet from your local building department
• Interconnection agreement with your utility
• Permission to Operate letter (if issued)
• Warranty documents from each manufacturer
• Monitoring portal login credentials
• Any financing agreement (loan, lease, or PPA documents)

If you’re missing any of these, your building department may have permit records on file. Manufacturer warranty documents can sometimes be re-issued if you have your equipment serial numbers.

Visual Reference: What Survives and What Doesn’t

Related Articles

If you’re working through the implications of an orphaned system, these may be relevant to your situation:

• California Solar Incentives: What’s Still Available in 2026 — SGIP and DAC-SASH may still apply even without your original installer
• Tesla Powerwall 3 Review — for homeowners with a Powerwall whose installer (SunPower, Sunnova) has closed
• Tesla Powerwall 3 Rebate 2026 — the Powerwall rebate process does not require your original installer
• How Many Solar Panels Do I Need? — if you’re considering expanding or replacing your system after resolving the orphan situation
• Should I Replace My Roof Before Installing Solar Panels? — relevant if workmanship issues caused roof damage you’re now managing without warranty coverage

This article is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal or financial advice. For guidance specific to your contract, financing agreement, or legal situation, consult a licensed attorney or contact your state’s consumer protection office or public utilities commission. Warranty terms vary by manufacturer and contract — always verify coverage directly with the manufacturer.