In June 2026, Harvard Business School published an analysis with a startling headline figure: roughly 100 U.S. solar companies have filed for bankruptcy protection since 2023. If you own a solar system — or you're paying on a lease, loan, or power-purchase agreement — that number can feel alarming. The good news is that a company failing does not switch off your panels or erase your warranties. The bad news is that the shakeout creates real, avoidable risks that most homeowners don't discover until they file a warranty claim or try to sell their home. This guide explains what the trend means, what changes for you (and what doesn't), how exposed you actually are, and the concrete steps to protect your system and its value.
What Harvard actually found
The analysis, published by Harvard Business School's Institute for Business in Global Society and featuring HBS professor Christian Kaps, argues that residential solar behaves less like a typical energy business and more like the housing market — a long-term financial commitment tied to credit, interest rates, and home ownership. When cheap financing dried up, the business model that funded a decade of rapid growth cracked, and roughly 100 companies filed for bankruptcy protection.
The failures aren't only small regional installers. They include some of the largest names in the industry, spanning installers, financiers, and manufacturers:
| Company | Type | When | Scale reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| SunPower | Installer / manufacturer | Chapter 11, Aug 2024 | Hundreds of thousands of customers |
| Sunnova | Financier / TPO | Chapter 11, June 2025 | ~400,000+ customers |
| Mosaic | Solar loan lender | Chapter 11, June 2025 | $15B+ loans to 500,000+ households |
| Titan Solar Power | Installer (top-5) | Chapter 7, June 2024 | Systems across ~22 states |
| Freedom Forever | Installer (national) | Bankruptcy, April 2026 | Multiple states |
| ADT Solar | Installer (wind-down) | Exited residential, Jan 2024 | Multiple states |
The ~100 figure is an industry estimate that combines Chapter 7 liquidations, Chapter 11 reorganizations, and voluntary shutdowns. Not every entry was a court bankruptcy — ADT Solar, for example, wound down its solar division rather than filing.
Why so many solar companies are failing
You don't need the full economics, but three forces explain almost all of it:
- Interest rates. Solar is usually financed. When borrowing costs jumped from roughly 3% to over 7% between 2021 and 2023, both homeowner demand and installer margins collapsed.
- Net-metering cuts. California — the largest U.S. market — slashed the credit homeowners earn for exported power under NEM 3.0 in 2023, lengthening payback periods and cutting rooftop volume by roughly 80%.
- The end of the federal tax credit. The 30% residential solar tax credit was eliminated in 2025, removing a major purchase incentive.
U.S. residential solar installations fell 31% year-over-year in 2024 — the first decline in seven years — and slipped again in 2025. When demand drops that fast in a business built on constant growth, thinly capitalized companies run out of runway.
What changes for you — and what doesn't
Here is the single most important idea in this article: your solar system carries multiple warranties from multiple companies, and each is independent of the others. Your installer going bankrupt threatens exactly one of them.
| Protection | Who backs it | Affected by a bankruptcy? |
|---|---|---|
| Panel product & performance warranty (25 yrs) | Panel manufacturer | No — separate company |
| Inverter warranty (10–25 yrs) | Inverter manufacturer | No — separate company |
| Battery warranty (10–15 yrs) | Battery manufacturer | No — separate company |
| Workmanship warranty (10–25 yrs) | Your installer | Yes — this is the one at risk |
| Your loan / lease / PPA | A finance company (often not the installer) | Sometimes — servicing may transfer |
So if your installer is gone, your panels keep producing, your manufacturer warranties stay valid, and your financing usually continues with a new servicer. What you lose is the company that would have answered a workmanship call — and the monitoring or "service plan" that ran through them. Our complete installer-out-of-business guide walks through replacing each of those pieces step by step.
How exposed are you? A 4-question self-check
Your risk depends far more on how you financed and who you financed with than on the headlines. Ask yourself:
- Do you own the system outright (cash or a paid-off loan)? Lowest exposure. Your only real gap is workmanship service, and your equipment warranties are with manufacturers.
- Do you have a loan? Your loan is almost always held by a lender (GoodLeap, Mosaic, Sunlight, Dividend), not your installer. Even if Mosaic filed, the loan and its lien were transferred to another servicer — you keep paying, just possibly to a new name.
- Do you have a lease or PPA (third-party ownership)? Highest complexity. A separate company owns the panels; a servicer bills you. Third-party ownership grew to more than half of the residential market in 2024, so this is now the most common situation — and the one that most complicates a future home sale.
- Is there a UCC-1 lien on your system? Most loans and leases file a UCC-1 "fixture filing" against the equipment. It's routine, but it must be located and addressed before you can sell or refinance cleanly. See our guide to solar UCC liens.
A SolarDisclosure™ lookup identifies your financing type, servicer, any UCC lien and payoff holder, your installer's current status, and your equipment warranties — in about two minutes.
Run my free lookup →Six things to do now
- Confirm your installer's status. Operating, acquired, in Chapter 11, or shut down? Five minutes on Google, your state contractor licensing board, and the bankruptcy court's PACER system usually answers it.
- Identify every piece of equipment. Pull your install contract, interconnection paperwork, and permit records. Record the panel, inverter, and battery makes, models, and serial numbers.
- Reclaim your monitoring. If your monitoring ran through a defunct installer's app, create a homeowner account directly with the manufacturer (Enphase Enlighten, SolarEdge, Tesla). A system that quietly underproduces for a year can cost thousands.
- Confirm your financing servicer and payment routing in writing. If a lender or servicer changed, make sure you know exactly who is owed and where payments go — a missed payment from a routing change can trigger default remedies.
- Locate any UCC-1 lien and its payoff holder. You'll need this at sale or refinance; finding it now avoids a scramble later.
- Build a "system binder." Contract, interconnection agreement, permits, serial numbers, manufacturer warranty links, and financing details in one place. Almost no homeowner has this — and it's the single best protection against the shakeout.
If you're planning to sell
This is where the bankruptcy wave quietly costs homeowners the most money. A solar system that isn't cleanly documented can delay a closing, spook a buyer, or knock value off the sale. Three issues surface again and again:
- A lease or PPA the buyer must assume — and a servicer (possibly a post-bankruptcy successor) that has to approve the transfer. Start early. See solar leases at closing.
- A UCC-1 lien that title and escrow must clear. See solar UCC liens and title companies.
- Net-metering that may not transfer. A grandfathered net-metering rate can be worth thousands per year, and in many states it doesn't automatically pass to the buyer. See how net-metering transfers at resale.
If your system came from a company that has since failed, expect buyers and their agents to have questions. Documentation is what turns a red flag into a non-issue.
Watch for opportunists
High-profile bankruptcies attract bad actors. After a big failure, homeowners get calls and mailers offering to "fix," "buy out," "re-warranty," or "take over" their system. Two rules keep you safe: never give payment or account details to an inbound caller you didn't verify, and never sign a new agreement to "save" your system without independent review. Your existing contract terms are protected — pressure to act fast is itself a warning sign.
Frequently asked questions
If my solar company went bankrupt, do I still have to pay my loan or lease?
Yes. A bankruptcy does not cancel your loan, lease, or PPA. Those obligations survive and are typically transferred to a new servicer. Stopping payments can trigger late fees, collections, and default remedies with no upside. Confirm the new servicer and payment routing in writing.
Will my panel and inverter warranties still be honored?
Almost certainly. Panel, inverter, and battery warranties are issued by the manufacturers — separate companies from your installer or financier. Major manufacturers have strong track records of honoring these across decades, and you can usually file through any qualified installer.
My installer is gone. Who services my system now?
For equipment claims, you file directly with the manufacturer. For workmanship or general service, most local licensed solar contractors will service "orphaned" systems for time and materials. Some bankruptcies also designate a successor service provider — our installer-out-of-business guide explains how to find yours.
Does a bankrupt installer hurt my home's value?
Not by itself — but undocumented liens, unclear lease terms, and non-transferring net-metering can. The fix is documentation: know your financing, lien, warranty, and net-metering status before you list, so a buyer sees a clean, well-understood asset.
Find out exactly where your system stands
In two minutes, a SolarDisclosure™ report maps your installer's status, financing and servicer, any UCC lien and payoff holder, equipment warranties, permits, and net-metering — so the bankruptcy wave never catches you off guard.
Start my lookup →Sources & further reading
- Harvard Business School (BiGS) — Roughly 100 U.S. solar companies have gone bankrupt. Here's why.
- Wood Mackenzie — U.S. residential solar turbulence persisted through 2024
- CNBC — Sunnova files for bankruptcy
- SEIA — U.S. surpasses 5 million solar installations
This article is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Bankruptcy outcomes, servicing assignments, and contract details vary — verify your specific situation in writing before acting. This is a sensitive financial topic for many homeowners; if you're facing hardship on a solar loan, a nonprofit housing or credit counselor can help you review your options.