Watching someone give up on the thing they loved hurts in a way that's hard to explain.

Nah, I actually think that data vanishing is kind of the point, like a time capsule that only exists if the hardware survives.

Did you look into whether your utility offers net metering for community solar, or are they just giving you bill credits? I almost got burned the same way, but I found out my state has a rule that forces utilities to apply the credits monthly, so I called and made them fix it. Once that got sorted, my savings lined up closer to what they promised, though it took way too many phone calls to get there.