Solar Companies That Went Out of Business: The 2026 List

A home solar system is supposed to last 25 years or more. Many of the companies that sold them did not last five. If you are reading this because your installer’s phone line is dead, you are far from alone.

We track installer closures for our city rankings of solar installers, because a company that no longer exists shouldn’t be recommended to anyone. Every closure below is confirmed by a news report or a public filing, linked in the table. The system counts come from the public installation records that utilities and state agencies send to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Tracking the Sun), plus the state program records of New York and New Jersey.

The list

Systems on record are home solar systems in the public records whose installer was the company. The records name the installer in about a dozen states, mostly California, Arizona and the Northeast, so for companies active elsewhere the real number is higher.

Together, these companies account for about 360,000 home solar systems in the records. That is roughly one in eight of all the home systems in the states where the records name the installer.

One more name you will see on old contracts: Vivint Solar did not go out of business. Sunrun bought it in October 2020, so Sunrun is the company to call about a Vivint system.

City by city, our solar installation and repair pages list which of these companies installed systems in your area and which local installers are still active.

Why so many solar installers failed

There is no single cause, but the same pressures show up in most of these cases.

Growth paid for with borrowed money. Many of the largest failures sold aggressively through door-to-door and online sales teams, and financed that growth with debt. When sales slowed, the debt didn’t.

Interest rates. Most home systems are paid for with loans or leases. When rates rose in 2022 and 2023, monthly payments rose with them and fewer homeowners signed.

California’s net billing change. From April 2023, new solar customers of California’s big three utilities were put on a tariff that pays far less for exported power. California is the largest home solar market by far, and installers that depended on it saw demand fall sharply. Many of the companies above did most of their business there.

The end of the federal credit. The 30% credit for homeowners who buy a system ended on December 31, 2025. It had been a central part of every sales pitch; without it, the math is harder and the market is smaller. Installers that sold mostly leases and PPAs still have a federal credit through 2027, because the company that owns the system claims it.

If your installer is on the list: what still works

Your system keeps producing. A bankruptcy doesn’t switch off panels. What changes is who you call when something goes wrong.

Panel and inverter warranties. These come from the manufacturers (Qcells, REC, Enphase, SolarEdge, Tesla and so on), not from the installer, and they typically run 10 to 25 years. Find the brand on the inverter label or in your monitoring app and contact the manufacturer directly. Manufacturers usually require proof of purchase and the serial numbers, so keep your contract and paperwork.

The workmanship warranty. This is the installer’s promise to fix roof leaks and installation defects, and it usually dies with the company. If a bankruptcy case is still open, you can file a claim; in a liquidation, don’t expect to recover much.

Leases and PPAs. If you pay a monthly lease or a price per kWh, you don’t own the system: the company that owns your contract is responsible for keeping it running, and those contracts are assets that get sold in a bankruptcy. SunPower’s legacy leases and PPAs and Sunnova’s customer portfolio are now serviced by SunStrong Management, according to the companies’ announcements. Keep paying, confirm who you are paying, and ask the new servicer in writing who handles repairs.

Loans. Your loan is with the lender, not the installer. It stays in force. If the installation was never finished, tell the lender immediately; lenders have a strong interest in getting stranded systems completed.

Company-by-company notes

Freedom Forever. Once the second-largest residential installer in the country, it filed for Chapter 11 on April 15, 2026 and the case was converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation on August 7, 2026. The deadline to file a proof of claim is October 16, 2026. Several financing companies were authorized to complete stranded installations. Details in our Freedom Forever bankruptcy guide.

SunPower. Filed for Chapter 11 on August 5, 2024. Complete Solaria bought parts of the business and later renamed itself SunPower, but it is a different company and doesn’t take on the old company’s installer warranties. Many SunPower systems use microinverters made by Enphase, whose warranty is separate.

Sunnova. Filed for Chapter 11 in June 2025. Its assets and operations were bought by Solaris Assets, and servicing of existing customers moved to SunStrong Management in September 2025, according to the buyers’ announcement. Sunnova sold almost only leases and PPAs, so most of its customers have a contract that a new owner now services.

Titan Solar. Titan’s legal name was PM&M Electric, which is how many permits and records list it. It stopped operating in June 2024. Arizona homeowners were hit hardest: 41,000 of its systems on record are there.

PosiGen. A leasing company that focused on low- and moderate-income homeowners, particularly in Connecticut, New Jersey and Louisiana. In Philadelphia’s permit records it was by far the biggest filer of solar permits from 2023 to 2025.

How to check whether an installer is still in business

Before you hire anyone, and before you rely on an old warranty:

1. Look up the contractor license on your state licensing board’s site. An expired, suspended or revoked license is a warning sign. In California, search the CSLB.
2. Search the company name with “bankruptcy” and check the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s case lookup (PACER) if you have a contract with them.
3. Check recent activity. Our city pages show whether a company still appears in the latest installation or permit records. A company that has stopped pulling permits has stopped installing.
4. Be careful with companies that pop up to “rescue” orphaned customers. Some are legitimate service companies; others use a bankruptcy to sell new contracts. Get the price of any repair in writing before work starts.

Who can fix a system whose installer is gone

Most established installers will service a system they didn’t install, but not all of them, and they usually charge a diagnostic visit. Start with the installers still active in your city, listed on our city pages, and ask:

• Do you work on the inverter brand I have?
• What does a diagnostic visit cost, and is it credited toward the repair?
• Will you file the warranty claim with the manufacturer for me?
• If you have to remove panels, do you guarantee the new roof penetrations against leaks, and for how long?

For the checks you can do yourself first, see our guide to solar panels that stop working.

Sources

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Tracking the Sun, 2024 edition (CC BY 4.0); NYSERDA and New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program project records. System counts by Solar Power Fix.
• Each closure: the report linked in the table.
• pv magazine USA, Freedom Forever bankruptcy converted to Chapter 7 liquidation, September 2026.
• pv magazine USA, Solaris acquires Sunnova assets, puts SunStrong in control of legacy systems, September 2025.