Your Solar Installer Went Under. Here's What Still Works, What Doesn't, and What to Do Next

Freedom Forever put solar on roughly 190,000 homes. In April 2026, it filed for bankruptcy — one of more than 100 U.S. solar companies to close or file since 2023, alongside Sunnova and the original SunPower. If your installer is one of them, you woke up to panels on your roof and no obvious company standing behind them.

Here's the honest, practical version: most of what matters keeps working, some of it doesn't, and a few things you should do this week.

What happens to my solar panels if my installer goes out of business?

Nothing, day to day. Your panels keep generating, your net metering credits keep flowing, and the safety systems (rapid shutdown, ground-fault protection) keep working. A bankruptcy is a financial and legal event — it doesn't reach up to your roof and flip a switch.

So the system you paid for still produces the power you bought it for. What changes isn't the electricity — it's who answers the phone when something breaks. That's the real problem, and it's worth getting ahead of before it's urgent.

Do I still have to pay my solar loan or lease?

Yes. Your loan or lease is a separate contract from your installer, usually held or serviced by a different financial company — so it survives the installer's bankruptcy, and it typically gets sold to a new servicer who'll tell you where to send payments. Stopping payments because the installer folded can wreck your credit and put you in default.

This trips people up because it feels backwards — the company's gone, why do I still owe? But the money was borrowed from a lender, not the installer, and that lender (or whoever bought the loan) is still owed. Watch your mail and email for a notice about a new servicer, and confirm where payments go before the next due date.

Is my warranty still good?

Partly — and this is the distinction that matters. Your equipment warranties (panels, inverter, battery) come from the manufacturers — Enphase, Tesla, Q CELLS, SolarEdge, REC — and those are unaffected by your installer's bankruptcy. But your workmanship and roof-penetration warranties came from the installer, and those can be delayed, reduced, or discharged in bankruptcy proceedings.

One catch nobody mentions: a manufacturer warranty is only as good as the manufacturer still being in business. If the brand on your roof is itself financially shaky, that "25-year warranty" is worth less than it looks — which is exactly why the equipment brand mattered more than the sticker price all along.

Not sure who covers what on your system? Send us your equipment list and we'll map your warranties for free — no pressure, no pitch.

Who fixes my system now — and what should I actually do?

First, find out if your installer was acquired: in many bankruptcies another company takes over the accounts, which is the smoothest outcome. If not, you've got an "orphaned" system, and there are four moves: register your equipment serial numbers directly with the manufacturers so warranty claims go straight to them; line up a NABCEP-certified local installer for service and repairs; save your monitoring history so you can prove a production drop; and act quickly if output falls, rather than waiting for a company that isn't coming.

The instinct is to wait for updates from the bankrupt company. Don't — in Chapter 7 (full liquidation) there's no one left, and even in Chapter 11 (reorganization) service response can slow to a crawl. A local installer who does service work can adopt your system, and manufacturers will honor equipment claims directly. You have more options than the silence suggests.

Can I get out of my solar contract because they went bankrupt?

Usually not automatically, and this one you shouldn't DIY. A bankruptcy doesn't cancel your loan or lease on its own; getting out typically requires showing the company breached the contract — and that's a legal determination, not a form you fill out. If you're considering it, talk to a consumer-protection attorney licensed in your state.

We're not lawyers, and this is the part where guessing is expensive. What we can tell you plainly: keep paying and keep the system running while you get real legal advice, because defaulting first and asking questions later is how a bad situation gets worse.

How do I choose a solar installer that won't go under?

Look at the business model, not just the price. The wave of failures clustered heavily in one place: large national companies running a high-volume, sales-driven dealership model on cheap financing — when interest rates rose and incentives shrank, that model buckled. So the strongest signal of durability is boring: years actually in business, in-house crews rather than a rotating cast of subcontractors, active state licensing and insurance, a real workmanship warranty (10+ years), tier-1 equipment from manufacturers likely to outlast the warranty, and a company whose growth looks sustainable rather than explosive.

And hold us to the same standard — that's the honest test. Ask any installer, including IntegrateSun: how long have you been doing this, who actually does the installation, and what happens to my service if you're not around in ten years? A company confident in its answer will give it to you straight. This isn't "everyone's a crook except us" — plenty of good installers exist. It's that the questions that reveal stability are the ones almost nobody asks until it's too late.

The bottom line

If your installer went under: your panels still work, your loan still stands, your equipment warranty is intact, and a local service company can take over — so breathe, then work the four steps above. If you're shopping right now, let this be the reminder that the cheapest quote from the biggest-advertising national brand isn't the safe choice; the durable one is. Solar itself is fine. The industry is just sorting out which companies deserve to still be here in a decade.

👉 Get a free system check from IntegrateSun — orphaned by a closed installer, or vetting a new one, we'll give you the honest read.