In the past two years, several major solar companies have filed for bankruptcy or ceased operations — SunPower, Freedom Forever, Sunnova, and Titan Solar among them. If your system was installed by one of these companies, or by a smaller regional installer that has since closed, you may be unsure what protections remain and what to do next. This guide covers the four things that actually matter: your equipment warranties, your monitoring access, your service options, and — if you have a lease or PPA — your contract rights.
1. Your Equipment Warranties Did Not Go Away
This is the most important thing to understand: panel and inverter warranties are between you and the manufacturer, not between you and your installer. When your installer closes, their workmanship warranty (which covers installation quality) is typically lost — but the manufacturer warranties on your hardware remain fully intact.
Here’s what that means in practice for the most common equipment in Southwest Riverside County:
- Enphase microinverters: 25-year manufacturer warranty, honored directly by Enphase. Active under your homeowner registration regardless of installer status.
- SolarEdge string inverters: 12-year standard warranty (25-year with purchased extension). SolarEdge honors claims through registered third-party technicians.
- Maxeon (formerly SunPower) panels: 40-year combined power and product warranty. Maxeon is a separate company from SunPower and continues to honor these warranties.
- Tesla Powerwall: 10-year battery warranty honored by Tesla Energy directly.
- FranklinWH: 12-year warranty honored by FranklinWH directly through authorized service providers.
To make a warranty claim, you will need documentation of the failure from a licensed technician — the manufacturer requires this regardless of who your installer was. We provide this documentation as a standard part of any warranty-related service call.
2. Your Monitoring Access May Need to Be Reclaimed
When an installer sets up your monitoring account, they typically have administrative access to your system through their installer portal. When the company closes, that portal access may disappear — taking with it visibility into your system’s production history and alert settings.
The good news is that homeowner accounts with Enphase, SolarEdge, and other platforms exist independently of installer accounts. If you have your own login to Enphase Enlighten or the SolarEdge monitoring portal, you still have access. If you’ve never set up a homeowner account (this is common — many installers handled monitoring setup without giving customers their own credentials), you can claim ownership of the system directly through the manufacturer’s platform or with assistance from a licensed service provider.
For Enphase specifically: if your gateway is no longer reporting to Enlighten, it may simply need to be reconnected to your home network. This is a common issue after router changes, internet provider switches, or simply gateway firmware falling out of date — all of which are straightforward to resolve.
3. You Can Hire Any Licensed Solar Contractor for Service and Repairs
Your solar system does not require service from its original installer. Manufacturer warranties allow for warranty work to be performed by any licensed third-party solar contractor — in fact, most manufacturers have a network of authorized service providers specifically for this purpose.
When you contact us about an orphaned system, we start by reviewing your equipment, pulling production history from the monitoring platform, and doing a physical inspection to establish a baseline. From there, we can take over as your ongoing service provider, handle warranty claims as they arise, and provide annual maintenance — exactly as your original installer was supposed to do.
4. If You Have a Lease or PPA: Read Your Contract Carefully
If your system is leased or under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) rather than owned outright, the situation is more complex. The lease or PPA is a contract between you and the financing company — which may be separate from the installer that went out of business. In bankruptcy proceedings, these contracts are typically acquired by another entity as part of the asset sale.
The first step is locating your original lease or PPA agreement and identifying the financing company (this is often separate from the installer’s name). Then check whether you’ve received any communications about a servicer change — in most bankruptcy cases, homeowners receive written notice of who has assumed responsibility for the contract.
If you have a leased system and are experiencing problems getting service, the financing company is legally responsible for system maintenance under most lease terms. Document your service requests in writing and escalate if needed. We can provide written diagnostic documentation of system issues to support your case if you’re in a dispute with a lease servicer.
What to Do in the Next 30 Days
If your installer recently closed or filed for bankruptcy, here are the specific actions that matter most:
- Log into your monitoring platform (Enphase Enlighten, SolarEdge monitoring portal) and confirm you have homeowner access. If you don’t, initiate the account claim process now.
- Locate your original system documentation — permit, Permission to Operate letter from SCE, and any warranty registration confirmations.
- Schedule a system inspection with a licensed solar service provider. Many issues that develop in unmonitored or underserviced systems go undetected for months. A baseline inspection tells you the actual current condition of your equipment.
- If you have a lease or PPA, locate the contract and identify the financing entity. Confirm who to contact for service requests going forward.
We work with orphaned solar customers throughout Southwest Riverside County regularly. Learn more about our orphaned solar services, or call 951.696.9669 to schedule an assessment.
