Europe added 65.1 GW of solar capacity in 2025. It also lost 40,000 solar jobs – the first workforce contraction in nearly a decade, according to SolarPower Europe. Behind those job losses is a wave of installer insolvencies that is creating a problem the industry has been slow to acknowledge: a growing population of residential solar systems with no warranty support, no maintenance provider, and no monitoring.

Europe’s orphaned solar installations still generate electricity, but the companies that designed, installed and commissioned them no longer exist. When a system is orphaned, there are no regulations to ensure someone steps in.

The installer bankruptcy wave is real. Sweden’s Installatorsforetagen reported 160 solar-related insolvencies in 2025, up from 147 in 2024. Sun4Energy Sweden was among them – a company with €25 million ($29 million) in annual revenue and 111 employees. Residential solar installations in Sweden fell 40% year on year from 41,000 systems in 2024 to 25,000 in 2025.

Europe’s largest solar employer with 128,000 workers, Germany, saw its workforce contract 17% between 2023 and 2024. The residential segment that sustained thousands of small- and mid-size installation businesses has halved its share of EU capacity additions, falling from 28% in 2023 to 14% in 2025, according to SolarPower Europe. In Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, and Hungary, residential installation volumes dropped more than 60% from their 2023 peaks.

Each contraction eliminates installation businesses and leaves customers without a service provider. SolarPower Europe projects the market will remain weak through 2026 and 2027, with a recovery beginning only in 2028. Further insolvencies are likely.

The cumulative effect is significant and the number of residential solar system owners without active installer support is growing. When this happens, the homeowner’s position can be precarious.

Insufficient protections

Manufacturer warranties on panels and inverters remain valid, but these warranties only cover product defects, not workmanship. A panel with a manufacturing defect will be replaced under warranty; a system that underperforms by 20% due to a commissioning error will not.

The practical barriers are also substantial. Many homeowners cannot identify the serial numbers on their equipment without accessing roof-mounted components. Warranty claims may require documentation that was held by the installer. And manufacturer warranty fulfillment typically covers the replacement component, but not the labor cost of removing and reinstalling it.

No EU-level framework specifically addresses consumer protection for solar installations when the installer becomes insolvent. The European Commission’s proposed revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, addresses cross-border enforcement of existing consumer rights, but does not create new protections specific to renewable energy assets. National policies vary widely.

This creates an asymmetry that the industry should find uncomfortable. Europe’s energy transition policy encourages households to invest €10,000 ($11,630) to €25,000 in solar installations, while imposing fewer consumer protections than many jurisdictions require for a €500 household appliance. Three interventions would materially reduce the orphaned systems problem without requiring new EU legislation.

Manufacturers should make warranty processes portable, so that a homeowner’s relationship doesn’t depend on the installer. Industry bodies should advocate for minimum installer insurance requirements at the national level, to ensure workmanship liabilities survive an installer bankruptcy. And the emerging third-party operations and maintenance sector should be actively supported with access to system documentation, manufacturer technical support, and clear legal standing to service systems they did not install.

Trust problem

The orphaned PV systems issue strikes at the heart of Europe’s residential solar recovery.

SolarPower Europe’s market outlook projects that residential solar will not return to 2025 installation levels until the end of the decade. When market conditions do improve, the industry will need to convince millions of new households to invest in rooftop solar. Those households will ask what happened to the people who installed their neighbor’s system. If the answer is “they went bankrupt and nobody maintained the system afterwards,” the trust deficit will be difficult to overcome.

The solar industry has spent two decades building consumer confidence in photovoltaic technology. But technology confidence is not the same as service confidence. Homeowners are buying a 25-year relationship with a service provider.

Europe’s solar industry should use this period of contraction to build the consumer protection infrastructure that the next growth phase will require. Or it can leave the orphaned systems problem to compound and bite back when the market turns.

The panels on those rooftops are still generating electricity. The question is whether anyone is ensuring they do so safely, efficiently, and with the warranty protection their owners were promised.

About the author

Ben Hayden is a British electrical consultant and European renewable energy specialist. He advises English-speaking property owners across 24 European countries on solar, battery storage, heat pumps, and EV charging installations, providing cross-border market intelligence on subsidy structures, permitting requirements, and grid conditions. His practice covers 202 cities across Europe.

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