What sort of impact will the incoming Trump Administration have on the booming U.S. solar and storage industries? Predictions vary, but most prognostications seem to fall within the range of “business as usual” to “light to moderate reconstructive surgery on the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Will he? and Won’t he? are fun hypotheticals (and we can discuss them ad nauseam for another month or so), but the financiers driving America’s transition to renewable energy care more about the uncertainty itself. Money doesn’t move unless it has a somewhat sturdy place to land. That means almost any plan is better than no plan at all.
Fortunately for Trump and company, the biggest trade association in the biz is on top of it.
SEIA’s road map
Today the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) unveiled a comprehensive policy agenda for President Trump and the 119th Congress to ensure the United States is the world’s dominant solar and storage market.
It calls for strengthening the solar and storage industry as part of a broad strategy to achieve American energy independence and security. It calls for eliminating dependence on China for critical manufacturing components and continuing an ongoing surge of investments that have flooded the market since the IRA passed.
“Solar is critical to meeting America’s growing need for electricity and providing power for manufacturing, data centers, cryptocurrency, and AI,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “This is a roadmap for the Trump administration and Congress to capitalize on strong federal solar and storage policies and achieve their vision of a dominant American energy sector. Enacting this agenda will give the United States control of the solar supply chain and ensure American communities benefit from solar and storage jobs and economic growth.”
SEIA’s agenda is neatly organized into ten priorities:
American energy dominance
Eliminate dependence on China
Surge American solar manufacturing
Meet the demand challenges of data centers, AI, and crypto
Cut red tape in the energy sector
Regulatory reform and certainty
Keep taxes low
Support energy choice and energy freedom
Bring more jobs to America’s heartland
Protect private property rights
SEIA and its members will advocate for this agenda throughout the transition and first 100 days of the Trump administration. You can check out the whole plan here.
The U.S. solar industry grew by 128% under President Trump’s first term in office, reaching 100 gigawatts (GW) of total installed capacity, enough to power over 17 million homes. This period of growth set the United States on a trajectory to becoming the #2 solar market in the world today, with 220 GW on the grid and over 100 solar and storage manufacturing plants across 43 states.