Solar Industry Sign-on Letter for Strong Clean Energy Infrastructure Policies

Fill out the fields below to add your company's name to this letter calling for critical solar and clean energy policies in upcoming federal infrastructure legislation. 

Dear President Biden and Congressional Leaders,

As many of the leading solar companies and organizations that support clean energy, and on behalf of more than 231,000 solar workers nationwide, we write to share our views on the importance of expanding and passing long-term clean energy policies in infrastructure legislation this year.

National and international challenges are coming to the forefront in increasingly obvious ways. The good news is that we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance serious policies that can tackle them. Whether your greatest concern is creating jobs and economic opportunity, tackling climate change head on, building a competitive American manufacturing supply chain, or ensuring ethical labor practices and U.S. workforce development, promoting policies that support American clean energy is essential to our great nation’s recovery and economic future.

We all share the priorities of creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs, injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy and ensuring that we are breathing clean air. Solar is an industry that offers that robust promise to all Americans. 

The clean energy transition must be based on principles of equity and opportunity. This means we are safeguarding our supply chains from unjust labor practices and taking action to promote a more just world. And it means that we are here to work in partnership with Congress and with President Biden to bring meaningful and lasting change.

We cannot fail in this endeavor. To rebuild better, we urge support for policies that will help America meet important economic and environmental targets. The fact is, despite our industry’s tremendous growth, solar comprises just over 3% of electricity generation nationwide. To modernize the grid and meet climate goals, solar must account for 20% of U.S. generation by the end of this decade and at least 40% by 2035. That means quadrupling our current pace of installations by 2030. We are in a race against time. 

Here is what we think it will take: 

1) Lengthen and strengthen the most impactful national policy to spur solar deployment, the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), at the 30% rate.  Meeting our collective economic goals will require long-term certainty to allow businesses to plan for a much larger clean energy buildout than is possible under current policy. 

2) Address financing challenges and shortfalls by adding direct pay provisions to the ITC and help the industry reach ambitious deployment goals.

3) Add standalone energy storage to the ITC to help the U.S. meet our energy needs and enhance the resilience of our electricity supply. 

4) Pass robust investments in clean energy that increase demand for solar while offering long-term certainty for companies willing to invest in American manufacturing, including additional incentives for solar equipment and components built here in the U.S.

5) Address grid resilience and necessary upgrades to accommodate all the new renewable energy coming online, including transmission and interconnection. 

6) Support training programs and equitable policies that continue to build a strong, diverse solar workforce.          

As the companies that employ a large number of the clean energy workforce and deploy technologies like solar and storage to enable a clean energy economy, we strongly encourage Congress to take the next step and pass these critical clean energy provisions to make our collective vision a reality.