Solar Company Went Out of Business? A Guide for Owners

If the company that installed or maintained your commercial solar system went out of business, you still own the system, and the equipment warranties from the panel and inverter makers still stand. What you lost is the company that knew the system, the knowledge that went with them and, if you didn't save it, the paperwork. Taking back the monitoring, the paperwork and the repairs can be daunting. This guide breaks it into steps.

Maybe the inverter display went dark last spring and nobody answered the service line. Maybe the monitoring app stopped loading. You call the company that installed the system, or the one you paid to maintain it, and the number is disconnected. The website is gone. Now you have a roof full of panels you paid for, and nobody to call.

This guide is for businesses and property owners that own their commercial solar system, paid for in cash or with a loan, and are now on their own because the company that installed or maintained it is gone. It is written for systems that are six or more years old, and for the property managers, brokers and attorneys who help those owners.

Is this guide for me?

Yes, if your business owns the panels. If a solar company owns them and sells you the power, your situation is different.

You most likely own the system if:

• ●You paid for it outright, or you are paying off a loan for it.
• ●Any state solar incentives the system earns, such as SRECs or RECs, are paid to you (or to a broker who sells them for you).
• ●You don't pay a solar company a monthly lease or a price per kilowatt-hour for the power.

If instead a third party owns the system on your roof under a power purchase agreement (PPA) or a lease, the rules for who pays and who fixes it are different. We cover that in a separate guide for building owners hosting someone else's system. If you can't tell which one you have, start with our guide on what to do when nobody knows who owns the solar on your building.

What happens to my system when the installer or maintenance provider goes under?

Nothing happens to the system itself. It keeps producing, and you keep the bill savings and certificate income, as long as it keeps running.

Solar companies going out of business is common. Many of the installers and maintenance providers that built and serviced commercial systems in the 2010s are gone, and recent failures such as SunPower in 2024 and PosiGen in 2025 left thousands of owners looking for service. We looked at one of those cases in what the PosiGen collapse teaches commercial owners.

What you lose is everything that company knew about your system: the login to the monitoring, the service history, the drawings, the quirks of your equipment, and the person who answered when something broke. If you had a maintenance contract, it ends with the provider, so nobody is watching the system anymore. If you financed the system, your loan is with a lender, not the solar company, so the payments continue as normal.

Is my solar warranty still good?

Your equipment warranties are, because they come from the panel and inverter makers, not the installer. The installer's workmanship warranty usually is not.

Solar United Neighbors, a nonprofit that helps solar owners, puts it simply: equipment warranties come from the manufacturer, so you contact the manufacturer directly. Panel warranties often run 20 to 25 years and inverter warranties 5 to 15 years. The workmanship warranty, which covers the quality of the installation itself (roof penetrations, wiring, racking), came from the installer and is likely void once the installer is gone.

A few cautions:

• ●Claims need proof. Expect to be asked for serial numbers, the model, the installation date and proof of purchase.
• ●Some warranties expect a qualified installer to do the repair. Check the terms before you let anyone open the equipment.
• ●The manufacturer may be gone too. If the company that made your panels or inverters has itself closed, its warranty may be worth little, and you plan for replacement instead.
• ●A buyer of the company's business may honor service contracts. Check whether a successor company took over customer accounts.

How do I get my monitoring back?

Contact the inverter maker's owner support with your serial numbers and proof that you own the system.

Losing the monitoring portal is one of the most common problems. Installers and maintenance providers often set up the account under their own name and gave the owner limited access, or none. The major inverter makers, such as SolarEdge, Enphase, Fronius and SMA, run their own monitoring platforms and have support teams that handle changes of account ownership. The steps, timing and any fee vary by company, so ask them directly.

Have the inverter serial numbers, the site address and a document showing you own the system ready: a purchase agreement, the loan papers or the permission to operate letter in your name.

Who can fix my solar panels now?

Look for a commercial operations and maintenance (O&M) provider, not a residential installer, and check for NABCEP certification.

O&M providers are companies that inspect, repair and monitor solar systems they didn't build. Commercial systems often use larger inverters, higher voltages and three-phase wiring, so pick someone who works on systems your size. The NABCEP directory lets you check whether a technician holds a current certification from the main US solar credentialing body.

Questions to ask:

• ●Have you worked on this inverter brand, and can you get parts?
• ●Are you licensed as an electrical contractor in this state, and insured?
• ●Will you start with a full inspection and a written report?

A good first visit checks the inverters (error codes, fans, whether they're running at all), the breakers and disconnects, the communication link that feeds the monitoring, and visible damage on the roof. Once you have a quote, our guide on how to read a commercial solar repair quote explains what to look for.

What paperwork should I gather?

Collect everything that proves what the system is, that you own it, and what it's allowed to do.

• ●Proof of ownership: the purchase contract, bill of sale or loan papers
• ●Permission to Operate (PTO) letter from your utility
• ●Interconnection agreement (your contract with the utility to connect to the grid)
• ●Building and electrical permits from your town
• ●Equipment warranties, spec sheets and serial numbers
• ●As-built drawings (the final plans showing what was actually installed)
• ●SREC registration. Solar certificates are tracked in a regional registry: PJM-GATS for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and DC, NEPOOL GIS for Massachusetts and Vermont, and NYGATS for New York. Check whose account your system sits in, because it's often the installer's, the maintenance provider's or a broker's, and move it into your own name.

Don't worry if pieces are missing. Our document checklists show what matters for rooftop, carport and ground-mount systems, and selling a solar system without full paperwork explains how gaps get filled.

Is owning solar with no service provider worth the work?

If this list feels like a second job, selling the system as-is may make more sense than rebuilding it all yourself.

Be honest about how much of this you want to take on. Hiring a new maintenance provider, chasing warranty claims, recovering the monitoring and rebuilding the paperwork is real work, and it lands on top of the job you actually have. For a lot of owners, the solar is a back-burner thought: something that used to run on its own and now sits on the to-do list behind everything else that matters to the business.

Keeping it makes sense if the system is producing, you're comfortable managing a service provider, and the repairs are modest. Selling makes sense if you'd rather not become a part-time solar manager, the system needs work, or the paperwork is a mess. Do Good Energy buys older commercial systems as-is. We take over every contract and responsibility that comes with the system and keep it running, so you're no longer the one chasing warranties and repair crews.

Start With a Ballpark Estimate

If you're weighing whether to fix or sell, a quick number helps. Our instant solar estimate asks a few quick questions about your system and gives you a price range in about 23 seconds. You don't need a complete file or a working service provider to take that first step.