Your solar installer went bust. Here is how to get it fixed.
Take a breath — an orphaned system is almost never a broken one. This is the calm, step-by-step recovery playbook: what you actually lose when they collapse, what survives, who to call, and your rights under Australian Consumer Law. No new sale required.
Reviewed by Josh, Mission Green Energy Team · Updated July 2026
Don't panic —
what "orphaned" actually means.
If the company that sold or installed your solar has stopped trading, your system is what the industry calls "orphaned". It sounds alarming. In practice it is a support-and-warranty problem, not usually a hardware one — and there is a clear path through it.
You are not alone, and your system is very likely fine. An estimated 600,000 Australian solar systems are "orphaned" — roughly one in six to seven solar homes — according to an industry estimate by Markus Lambert reported by CHOICE. Hundreds of Australian solar companies have entered liquidation or deregistration over the years, so a disappearing installer is a common story, not a sign your panels have failed.
Here is the part most sites won't lead with, because there is no fresh sale in it: when your installer collapses, the panels on your roof do not stop working, and your manufacturer warranties do not automatically vanish. What you genuinely lose is the installer's own workmanship warranty and their after-sales service. What generally survives is claimable elsewhere. The rest of this page is the recovery playbook — the exact order to work through so you can get the system serviced, a warranty honoured, or a fault fixed, without being pushed into a full replacement you may not need.
If you'd rather just have someone look at it, a free health check will tell you what is still covered and what it actually needs. If you're reading this before you buy, our companion guide on checking a solar installer before you pay a deposit is the way to avoid ever landing here.
What actually dies with the installer —
and what quietly survives?
This is the single most important thing to understand, because the fear ("my 25-year warranty is gone!") is mostly aimed at the wrong target. Separate the two and the panic usually disappears.
The workmanship warranty
The installer's own guarantee on the labour and installation — typically 5 to 10 years — is tied to that business. When it stops trading, there is no one left to honour it. This is the real loss.
After-sales service
The free call-outs, monitoring set-up, tweaks and "we'll come out and look at it" support that came with the original sale go with the company. You can still get the work done — you'll just pay a currently trading installer for it.
The manufacturer product warranty
The maker's product and performance warranty on the panels and inverter — often 10 to 25 years or more — generally survives, and is claimable directly with the manufacturer or their Australian importer, provided they are still trading here.
Your Australian Consumer Law rights
The consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law can sit above and outlast any written warranty. They are real rights — though, as we cover below, enforcing them against an insolvent installer is often practically worthless.
The hardware itself
Nothing on your roof knows the installer is gone. The panels keep generating, the inverter keeps converting. An orphaned system very often needs nothing at all, or a single part — not a full replacement.
Your ability to choose anyone
You were never locked to the original installer. Any currently CEC-accredited or SAA-accredited installer can service, fault-find or repair the system — including manufacturer-authorised warranty work.
Step by step:
how do I get an orphaned system sorted?
Work through these in order. Most people never need to go past the first three or four steps — the later ones are there for when something is genuinely faulty or you want money back.
- Find the make and model of your panels and inverter. This is the key that unlocks everything else. Look on your original invoice, on the STC or Clean Energy Council paperwork you signed at install, and on the equipment itself — the label on the inverter and the sticker on the back of a panel. Note the brand, model number and, if you can, the install date.
- Contact the manufacturer or their Australian importer directly. The product warranty is theirs to honour, not the installer's. With your make, model and proof of purchase, lodge the claim with them. They will tell you what evidence they need and either authorise a repair or nominate an accredited installer to do it. If a brand has left the Australian market, an independent installer can often still source a compatible part.
- Engage a currently accredited installer to service it. For anything that isn't a straight manufacturer claim — an inspection, a fault-find, a like-for-like replacement — book a currently CEC-accredited or SAA-accredited installer. Ask specifically whether they take on systems they didn't install (many do). Get the findings in writing before agreeing to any big work.
- Keep every invoice, and lodge an ACL / fair-trading complaint if needed. If you believe the goods or installation fell short of what the Australian Consumer Law guarantees, you can lodge a complaint with your state or territory fair-trading body, or with the energy ombudsman — for example EWOV in Victoria — to have the situation assessed. Keep all paperwork and correspondence; you'll need it.
- Use AFCA for a finance or loan dispute. If you paid for the system with finance and there's a dispute — say the system was never completed, or a linked loan is in question — the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) handles finance and loan complaints. A credit-card or linked-loan payment may also give you a chargeback or a claim against the financier, who is still trading even though the installer isn't.
That's the whole playbook. If you want a shortcut, Mission Green will run steps 1 to 3 with you in a free health check — identify the gear, tell you what's under a live manufacturer warranty, and quote only what the system genuinely needs.
I have a problem right now —
who do I actually phone?
Different problems have different owners now that the installer is gone. Match your situation to the right first call so you're not bounced around.
A panel or inverter has failed
Call the manufacturer or their Australian importer for the failed component. The product warranty is theirs, and it generally survives the installer's collapse. Have your make, model and invoice ready.
You just need it serviced or checked
Call any currently CEC- or SAA-accredited installer — including Mission Green. You're free to use anyone; you were never tied to the original company.
You think the work was defective
Lodge with your state or territory fair-trading body, or an energy ombudsman such as EWOV in Victoria, under your Australian Consumer Law guarantees. Keep every document.
There's a finance or loan dispute
Take it to AFCA (the Australian Financial Complaints Authority). If you paid by credit card or a linked loan, ask the financier about a chargeback — they're still trading.
You're mid-install and they collapsed
Contact the appointed liquidator or administrator (their name is on ASIC's published notices) about the contract, and your financier if you paid a deposit or drew a loan for an unfinished job.
You're not sure what's wrong
Start with a free health check. An accredited installer can inspect the system, identify the gear, and tell you which of the calls above is actually yours to make.
How do I claim a warranty
when the installer is gone?
The manufacturer warranty is the one worth chasing, because it's the one that generally survives. Claiming it without the original installer is more straightforward than most people fear.
The manufacturer's product and performance warranty covers the hardware itself — the panels and the inverter — and it belongs to the maker, not to the company that bolted it on. So a defunct installer doesn't take it with them. To claim it:
- Identify the exact product. Brand and model number for both the panels and the inverter, plus your install date and proof of purchase. The invoice, the STC paperwork, and the labels on the equipment are your three sources — one of them will have what you need.
- Go direct to the maker or the Australian importer. Most major brands run their warranty support through an Australian office or a distributor. Lodge the claim with them; they'll set out what they need and how a repair or replacement gets authorised.
- Expect them to nominate an installer. Manufacturers usually arrange for an accredited installer to carry out warranty work, or reimburse one you engage. Ask up front whether return-to-base, labour and call-out are covered — that's often where the vanished installer's workmanship warranty would have filled the gap, and now may not.
One honest caveat: if the manufacturer itself has left the Australian market, a direct claim gets harder — but an independent accredited installer can frequently source a compatible replacement part so the system keeps running. You can read our own warranty terms to see what a warranty backed by a currently trading company looks like.
Can I get money back
under Australian Consumer Law?
Sometimes — but here's the honest part a lead-funnel won't tell you: a consumer-law claim is only as good as the party you can actually recover from. Against an insolvent installer, it's often worth little.
Under the Australian Consumer Law, the goods and services you bought carry consumer guarantees that can sit above and outlast any written warranty. In principle that's a powerful right. In practice, the awkward truth is that a claim against a company that has gone into liquidation usually joins a queue of creditors, and there may be no solvent business left to pay — so a consumer-law remedy against the defunct installer itself is frequently of little practical value.
Where getting something back is more realistic is against a party that is still trading:
- The manufacturer or importer for a genuine product fault — that warranty survives, as covered above.
- Your finance provider, if you financed the system. A credit-card or linked-loan payment may give you a chargeback or a claim against the financier, and finance or loan disputes can go to AFCA (the Australian Financial Complaints Authority).
- A regulator or ombudsman — lodging with your state or territory fair-trading body, or an energy ombudsman such as EWOV in Victoria, gets the situation formally assessed and can sometimes broker a resolution.
None of this is legal advice, and every case turns on its facts — but the pattern is consistent: chase the parties who are still solvent. That's the difference between a right on paper and money back in reality.
Why does this keep happening
to Australian solar owners?
Being orphaned is common because solar-company failures are common. You can't undo it on an existing system — but you can make sure your next purchase is from a company likely to still be there when you need it.
Australia installed rooftop solar at extraordinary speed, and a lot of companies chased that boom with thin margins, aggressive pricing and, in some cases, deliberate "phoenixing" — closing a business and re-opening under a new name to shed obligations. The result is the roughly 600,000 orphaned systems (about one in six to seven solar homes) estimated by Markus Lambert and reported by CHOICE, and hundreds of solar companies that have entered liquidation or deregistration over the years.
The lesson for your next system isn't "don't buy solar" — it's buy from a company built to still be around to honour what it sells. A long panel warranty is only as good as the business standing behind the labour and after-sales side of it. Before you pay any deposit, it's worth a quick check on who you're actually buying from: how long they've traded, who accredits their installers, and whether the warranty is backed by a currently trading entity.
Our companion guide, how to check a solar installer before you pay a deposit, walks through exactly what to verify. And if you're weighing up whether to add to your system at all, our is solar worth it in 2026 guide gives you the honest numbers first.
So — what should you do first?
Here's the advice we'd give a friend whose installer just disappeared: don't spend a cent on a replacement until someone has actually looked at the system.
In the great majority of orphaned cases, the hardware is fine and the fix is small — identify the gear, check what's under a live manufacturer warranty, and service or repair only what genuinely needs it. The costly mistake is being talked into a full replacement out of panic. Find your make and model, call the manufacturer for anything faulty, engage a currently accredited installer for everything else, and lean on your finance provider or an ombudsman if money is in dispute. If your system is old, underperforming and out of every warranty, then it's worth honestly weighing an upgrade — on the numbers, not on fear. See whether that stacks up in our is solar worth it in 2026 guide, or check what your current panels are doing on our solar systems page.
Orphaned solar systems:
your questions, answered.
Any suitably qualified, CEC-accredited or SAA-accredited solar installer can service or repair your system — you are not tied to the company that installed it, even for warranty work. When the original installer stops trading, what you lose is their workmanship warranty and after-sales service, not the ability to have the system looked after. For a fault covered by the manufacturer's product warranty (the panels or the inverter), contact the maker or their Australian importer directly, because that warranty generally survives the installer's collapse and they will usually arrange or authorise a repair. For everything else — a service, a fault-find, a like-for-like replacement — engage a currently accredited installer and pay for the work, keeping every invoice in case you later have a consumer-law claim. Mission Green can inspect an orphaned system and tell you honestly what is still covered and what it genuinely needs.
Not entirely — this is the single biggest myth about orphaned systems. When an installer or retailer collapses, it is their workmanship warranty (typically 5 to 10 years on the labour and installation) plus their after-sales service that are lost. The manufacturer's product and performance warranty on the panels and inverter (often 10 to 25 years or more) generally survives, and can usually be claimed directly with the maker or their Australian importer, provided that company is still trading here. On top of that, your rights under the Australian Consumer Law can sit above and outlast any written warranty. So the honest position is: your long panel warranty is not automatically void, but it is only as useful as the manufacturer or importer who has to honour it — which is why chasing the make and model, not the defunct installer, is the first move.
Start by finding the make and model of your panels and inverter — they are on your original invoice, on the STC or Clean Energy Council paperwork, and printed on the equipment itself (the inverter label and the sticker on the back of a panel). With those details, contact the manufacturer or their Australian importer directly and lodge the claim with them, since the product warranty is theirs to honour, not the installer's. They will usually tell you what evidence they need and either authorise a repair or nominate an accredited installer to carry it out. If a manufacturer has itself left the Australian market, an independent CEC-accredited or SAA-accredited installer can still often source a compatible replacement part. Keep your invoice, paperwork and all correspondence — you will need them for the claim and for any later Australian Consumer Law action.
Possibly, but be realistic about who you can actually recover from. Under the Australian Consumer Law, the goods and services you bought carry consumer guarantees that can sit above and outlast a written warranty. The practical problem is that a consumer-law remedy against an insolvent installer is often worth little, because there is no solvent business left to pay — a claim against a company in liquidation usually joins a queue of creditors. Where money back is more realistic is against a party that is still trading: the manufacturer or importer for a product fault, or, if you financed the system, the finance provider. If you paid by credit card or a linked loan you may have a chargeback or a claim against the financier, and a finance or loan dispute can be taken to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). You can also lodge a complaint with your state or territory fair-trading body, or with the energy ombudsman such as EWOV in Victoria, to have the situation assessed.
Look for a currently CEC-accredited or SAA-accredited solar installer and ask specifically whether they take on service and repair work on systems they did not install — many do, and some specialise in exactly this. Have your invoice and the make and model of your panels and inverter ready, because a good installer will want to know what is on the roof before quoting. Be wary of anyone who insists the whole system must be replaced before they have inspected it; an orphaned system is very often fine and simply needs a fault-find, a part or a firmware update. It is reasonable to pay for a proper inspection and to get the findings in writing. Mission Green offers a free health check on an orphaned system and will tell you honestly what is still covered and what it actually needs, rather than defaulting to a full replacement.
Very common — an estimated 600,000 Australian solar systems are considered 'orphaned', which is roughly one in every six to seven solar homes, according to an industry estimate by Markus Lambert reported by CHOICE. A system is described as orphaned when the company that originally sold or installed it has since stopped trading, so the workmanship warranty and after-sales service that came with the sale no longer have anyone standing behind them. Hundreds of Australian solar companies have entered liquidation or deregistration over the years, so if your installer has disappeared you are far from alone, and it does not mean your system is broken. The important takeaway is that being orphaned is a support-and-warranty problem, not usually a hardware one — the manufacturer's product warranty generally survives, and any accredited installer can service the system.