Among the businesses that install solar systems, the insolvency rate is almost three times as high as in the rest of the economy. In the twelve months from July 2025 to June 2026, 25.4 ‰ of these companies filed for insolvency, compared with 8.6 ‰ in the total population. This is shown by an analysis by HDH Group Research of 23,273 corporations related to solar, wind or biogas.
The shake out was preceded by an unprecedented incorporation boom. Rising electricity prices after the beginning of the war against Ukraine, the exemption of small installations from income tax and VAT at the beginning of 2023 and the amendment of the Renewable Energy Sources Act drove the number of new solar companies from 705 in 2021 to 1,910 in 2023. Since then, demand for rooftop systems has declined. The number of insolvencies of solar companies rose from 27 in 2023 to 170 in 2025.
Installers and traders under pressure, operators stable
The burden is unevenly distributed. Besides installation businesses, solar trade is hit with a rate of 21.2 ‰; many dealers had bought modules at high prices that have since fallen sharply. Operators of solar installations, whose revenues are remunerated over twenty years, reach 5.3 ‰. Wind and biogas companies, at 4.2 ‰ and 4.3 ‰, are well below the average.
Solar businesses in construction are the youngest group of the energy transition. They have existed for a median of 4.6 years, and 60.3% of them were incorporated since 2020. Young companies with little capital and few established customers are particularly vulnerable in a shrinking market.
Wind energy in few hands
Wind energy presents a different picture. Here, every project is held in a separate project company. 26.7% of the 4,787 wind companies have a management in which at least one person runs five or more wind companies; a single person manages 150. Relative to their corporate population, companies of the energy transition are most densely represented in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Bremen and Schleswig Holstein.
Method
The analysis covers corporations whose corporate purpose names photovoltaics, wind energy or biogas and biomass, or which generate electricity from renewable sources, as of 23 October 2026. The insolvency rate relates the cases from July 2025 to June 2026 to the companies incorporated before this period.
The report
This item is based on the report “The companies of the energy transition” by HDH Group Research. It contains all figures and tables, the definition of the population and a section on method and limitations: The companies of the energy transition, also as PDF.
About HDH Group Research. HDH Group Research examines the structure of German corporations on the basis of its own complete database of more than one million companies. The results may be used freely provided the source is acknowledged.
Press enquiries and analyses to your own definition: info@hdhgroup.de, +43 664 2053061. The editorial team