The Orphaned Solar Report. An estimated 1 in 6-7 systems is left behind.
When a solar company stops trading, the systems it sold don't stop working — but the warranty and the phone number do. An estimated 600,000 Australian solar systems are now "orphaned". Here is the honest report on what that means, why it happens, what actually survives, and how to protect yourself.
Reviewed by Josh, Mission Green Energy Team · Updated July 2026
How many orphaned solar systems
are there in Australia?
An estimated 600,000 — roughly 1 in 6 to 7 solar homes — where the company that sold and installed the system has since stopped trading.
The single most-cited figure in this debate is around 600,000 "orphaned" Australian solar systems. It is important to be precise about where that number comes from and what it is: it is an industry estimate by Markus Lambert (a former general manager of Solar & Energy at LG Electronics Australia), compiled from his running list of ASIC liquidation and deregistration notices for solar-named companies, and reported by CHOICE in November 2025. It is not a government census — no Australian government body publishes an "orphaned" count — so it is best read as an informed order-of-magnitude estimate rather than an exact tally.
The "1 in 6 to 7" framing comes from putting that estimate against how many systems are out there. The Clean Energy Council reports more than 4.3 million rooftop solar systems installed by the end of 2025. An estimated 600,000 divided across 4.3 million-plus systems lands at roughly one in six to seven. We deliberately do not publish a single sharp percentage against a stale system count, because the honest denominator keeps moving and any tidy figure would drift out of date the moment it was printed.
The orphaned solar picture,
in one table.
Every figure below carries its named, dated source. Where no clean number exists, we say so rather than invent one.
| Measure | Figure | Source & date |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated orphaned AU solar systems | ~600,000 (an estimate) | Markus Lambert, via CHOICE (27 Nov 2025) |
| As a share of all solar homes | Roughly 1 in 6 to 7 | Lambert estimate ÷ CEC installed total |
| Rooftop solar systems installed nationally | More than 4.3 million | Clean Energy Council (as at 31 Dec 2025) |
| Solar-named companies in liquidation / deregistration since ~2011 | Hundreds (industry counts range widely by definition) | ASIC published notices; industry compilations, 2025 |
| Manufacturer product / performance warranty | Typically 10–25+ years — generally survives an installer collapse | ACCC warranties & consumer guarantees (2026) |
| Installer workmanship warranty & after-sales support | Lost when the installer stops trading | ACCC / energy.gov.au (2026) |
Re-confirm any figure at the time of reading — installed totals and insolvency counts move over time. No Australian government body publishes an official "orphaned system" count; the ~600,000 is an attributed industry estimate.
What exactly is
an "orphaned" solar system?
An orphaned system is one where the original seller or installer has ceased trading — so there is no longer a company standing behind the install to service it or honour its labour warranty.
An orphaned solar system is exactly what it sounds like: the panels are still on the roof and still generating, but the business that sold and installed them has gone. When that happens, two things quietly disappear. The first is the installer's workmanship warranty — the cover on the labour, wiring, mounting and the quality of the install itself. The second is after-sales support: the number you were meant to call for a fault, a service, a monitoring problem or a warranty claim.
Crucially, orphaned does not mean dead. The hardware keeps working. As we explain below, the manufacturer's warranty on the panels and inverter is a separate thing that generally survives. What is genuinely lost is the relationship — the company whose job it was to look after the system for the next decade. That is what leaves owners of orphaned systems unsure who to call when something eventually goes wrong.
Does my warranty survive if
the installer has gone?
Partly — and this is the most misunderstood part of the whole issue. There are two separate warranties on your system, and only one of them is tied to the installer.
Here is the paradox at the heart of an orphaned system: your panels can carry a 25-year warranty while the company that installed them lasts only a few years. Understanding which warranty is which is the difference between panic and a plan.
What generally survives:
- The manufacturer's product and performance warranty on the panels and inverter — often 10 to 25+ years. This is a promise from the maker, not the installer, so it does not disappear when the installer does. You can usually claim it directly with the manufacturer or their Australian importer, as long as that manufacturer or importer is still trading in Australia.
- Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law consumer guarantees, which can outlast a written warranty entirely and sit above it. (In practice, enforcing an ACL claim against a company that is already insolvent is often difficult — but the guarantees against the manufacturer can still have value.)
What is genuinely lost:
- The installer's workmanship warranty — the labour cover on the install itself.
- The after-sales service and the easy first point of contact for faults and claims.
So the honest framing is this: a 25-year panel warranty is only as convenient as the company that has to arrange the labour, the return-to-base logistics and the after-sales side of a claim. The product warranty is not automatically "voided" when an installer stops trading — a claim you may still read online — but pursuing it becomes more work, because you are dealing with the manufacturer directly rather than a local installer who handles it for you. (Sources: ACCC — warranties & consumer guarantees; CHOICE, Nov 2025.) You can see our own approach on the Mission Green warranty page.
Why do so many solar
installers go out of business?
Mostly because it is a high-volume, thin-margin, fast-growing industry — which leaves very little buffer when prices, rebates or demand shift. And there is an uglier version too: deliberate "phoenixing".
Thin margins, high volume
Solar is fiercely price-competitive. Companies win work by shaving the quote, which leaves almost no cushion. A run of warranty claims, a bad debt or a slow quarter can be enough to tip a thin-margin installer into insolvency.
Fast growth, sudden shifts
The market has grown very fast on the back of rebates and falling hardware prices. When a rebate changes, a tariff drops or demand cools, businesses that scaled up for the boom can be left overextended and exposed.
Phoenixing
The deliberate version: a company is wound up to escape its warranty and debt obligations, then re-emerges under a new name. It is a documented problem in the solar sector and a standing ASIC enforcement priority under illegal-phoenixing law.
What survives, and what
disappears with the installer?
The clearest way to think about an orphaned system is to separate the parts that keep protecting you from the parts that go with the company.
| Element | Status when the installer stops trading |
|---|---|
| Panel & inverter hardware | Keeps working — an orphaned system is not a dead system |
| Manufacturer product / performance warranty | Generally survives; claim direct with the maker or AU importer if still trading |
| Australian Consumer Law guarantees | Can outlast a written warranty; hard to enforce against an insolvent installer, but may hold against the manufacturer |
| Installer workmanship warranty (labour) | Lost — there is no longer a company to honour it |
| After-sales service & monitoring support | Lost — but a reputable independent installer can usually take over servicing |
What to do — whether you're
buying or already orphaned.
There are two honest paths here: protect yourself before you pay a deposit, and recover sensibly if your system is already left behind.
Check who you're buying from
You can't guarantee any company will last, but you can stack the odds heavily in your favour. Check how long the business has traded under the same ABN, look for financial distress or past failures behind the people involved, and be wary of a price far below everyone else. Our verify-before-deposit checklist walks through the exact checks.
Favour durability over the cheapest quote
The lowest price on the day is often the margin that precedes a collapse. A retailer likely to still be around in ten years to honour the workmanship warranty is worth more than a few hundred dollars saved up front. See how the whole-of-life sums work in our is solar worth it in 2026 guide.
Recover without panic
An orphaned system is not a dead system. Gather your paperwork, identify your panel and inverter brands, approach those makers or importers about surviving product warranty, and get a reputable independent installer to inspect or take over servicing. Our orphaned-system recovery playbook sets out the order.
Where Mission Green stands on this.
The orphaned-solar problem is real, and the honest response isn't to scare you — it's to help you choose an installer likely to still be here in ten years, and to invite you to verify us.
We publish this report because the ~600,000 figure is being used, fairly often, to frighten people into a fast purchase from whoever is quoting. That is the wrong lesson. The right lesson is quieter and more useful: choose a durable installer, and do the checks before you pay a deposit. A company that will still answer the phone in year eight is worth more than the cheapest quote on the day.
We also think you should hold us to exactly that standard. We invite you to verify Mission Green the same way we tell you to verify anyone else — check the ABN, the accreditations, the track record. If we ever steer you toward waiting or a smaller system rather than a sale, that is the point; you can see how often our advice is "not yet" on our public honesty record. And if your system is already orphaned, we can service or assess it regardless of who originally installed it.
Orphaned solar systems:
your questions, answered.
An estimated 600,000 Australian solar systems are "orphaned" — roughly 1 in 6 to 7 solar homes — meaning the company that originally sold and installed them has since stopped trading. That figure is an industry estimate by Markus Lambert, compiled from a running list of ASIC liquidation and deregistration notices for solar-named companies, as reported by CHOICE in November 2025. It is an estimate, not an official government count — no Australian government body publishes an "orphaned" total — so treat it as an informed order-of-magnitude figure rather than a precise census. Against the Clean Energy Council's tally of more than 4.3 million rooftop systems installed by the end of 2025, an estimated 600,000 works out to roughly 1 in 6 to 7, which is where the "1 in 6-7" framing comes from.
An orphaned solar system is one where the original seller or installer has ceased trading, so there is no longer a company standing behind the installation. What you lose when a system is orphaned is the installer's workmanship warranty — the cover on the labour, wiring and mounting — and the after-sales support you would normally go back to for a fault, a service call or a warranty claim. The hardware keeps working, and the manufacturer's product warranty on the panels and inverter generally survives separately. But the business relationship that was meant to look after you is gone, which is why an orphaned system can leave owners unsure who to call when something goes wrong.
Partly. There are two separate warranties, and only one is tied to the installer. The manufacturer's product and performance warranty on the panels and inverter — often 10 to 25 years or more — generally survives even when the installer has gone, and you can usually claim it directly with the maker or their Australian importer, provided that manufacturer or importer is still trading here. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law guarantees can also outlast a written warranty. What is genuinely lost is the installer's workmanship warranty on the labour and the after-sales service. So the honest answer is that the product warranty is not automatically "voided" when an installer stops trading — but the labour cover and the easy first point of contact are, which makes a claim more work to pursue.
Mostly because it is a high-volume, thin-margin industry that has grown very fast, which leaves little buffer when prices, rebates or demand shift. When a company is competing hard on price, a run of warranty claims, a bad debt, a rebate change or a slow quarter can be enough to tip it into insolvency. A related and uglier problem is "phoenixing", where a business is deliberately wound up to escape its warranty and debt obligations and then re-emerges under a new name — a practice that is documented in the solar sector and is a standing ASIC enforcement priority. We are deliberately not putting a single failure percentage on this, because no primary source publishes a clean solar-installer insolvency rate; what is well established is that hundreds of Australian solar companies have entered liquidation or deregistration since around 2011.
You cannot guarantee any company will last, but you can heavily stack the odds in your favour by checking who you are buying from before you pay a deposit. Look at how long the business has genuinely been trading under the same ABN, search for signs of financial distress or past company failures behind the people involved, confirm they use accredited installers, and be wary of a price that is far below everyone else, since a margin that thin is often what precedes a collapse. Favour a retailer that will still be around to honour the workmanship warranty over the cheapest quote on the day. Our guide to checking a solar installer before you pay a deposit walks through the specific checks step by step, and Mission Green openly invites you to run the same checks on us.
Do not panic — an orphaned system is not a dead system, and you have more options than it first appears. Start by gathering your original paperwork and identifying the exact panel and inverter brands, then approach those manufacturers or their Australian importers directly about any surviving product warranty, since that cover is separate from the installer and often still valid. For a fault or a service, a reputable independent installer can usually inspect, repair or take over servicing your system even though they did not install it. It is also worth confirming your system is still safe and performing, as a long-neglected orphaned install occasionally hides a fault worth fixing. Our recovery playbook for an orphaned system sets out these steps in order, and Mission Green can service or assess an existing system regardless of who originally installed it.