Green Forum • 3 June, 2026 at 1:40 PM
The newly published Edition 2 2026 of the PV Module Manufacturer Ranking Report shows the first signs of stabilisation in the solar manufacturing sector's balance sheets after more than a year of steady deterioration. The table tracks the Altman Z-Score, a widely used measure of bankruptcy risk, for 64 publicly listed photovoltaic module manufacturers, and has now been refreshed with first-quarter 2026 data.
The median Z-Score across the cohort rose to 1.52 in March 2026, up from a record low of 1.36 in mid-2025 and 1.42 at the end of last year, the first sequential improvement since 2024. The number of manufacturers carrying a negative score, the category of financial stress, eased from seven to six. The recovery is modest: roughly two-thirds of the industry still scores below 1.81, the threshold for the distress zone, underlining how far the sector remains from a full recovery.
The most striking individual movement is the collapse of Insolation Energy, the Indian manufacturer that topped the ranking in the previous edition. Its score fell from 10.77 to 3.64, a drop of more than seven points and the steepest single decline in the index, pushing it from first place to sixth. While the company remains in the safe zone, the trajectory makes it the table's key watch item heading into the next edition.
Edition 2 reinforces a clear two-tier picture. Indian producers and First Solar dominate the upper ranks, with Waaree Renewable Technologies, Premier Energies, HT Saae and First Solar the only names sitting in or near the safe zone. By contrast, China's tier-one majors (LONGi, Trina Solar, JA Solar, JinkoSolar, Tongwei and Canadian Solar) are all scored within the distress zone, a reflection of the balance-sheet damage inflicted by the prolonged polysilicon-driven price war.
The Altman Z-score combines profitability, leverage, liquidity, solvency, and activity ratios into a single composite indicator of financial health. A score of 2.6 or above is considered safe, a score between 1.1 and 2.6 is classified as grey, and a score below 1.1 is associated with elevated bankruptcy risk over the following two years, with negative scores suggesting distress.