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Featured in The power puzzle – 06 – 2026

Who maintains Europe’s orphaned rooftop solar?

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.
By
Ben Hayden
Homeowners who do not own a rooftop solar installation will talk to neighbors who do. Failure to address the orphaned system issue risks Europe’s next growth phase, argues Ben Hayden. | Image: Kindel Media

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 …

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