Tag Archives: SEIA

SEIA Shakeup Ousts Former Interim CEO Tom Kimbis, Long-Time Lobbyist Christopher Mansour

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Friday ousted long-time executives Tom Kimbis and Christopher Mansour in a shakeup executives say has nothing to do with the financial soundness of the organization.

Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO, said revisions to its overall strategic vision required a realignment of resources and rendered Kimbis and Mansour expendable.

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Hopper said SEIA would replace Mansour, who had served as SEIA’s vice president of federal affairs since 2013. She did not say if it would replace Kimbis, who had served as the organization’s interim president and CEO before Hopper was appointed in 2017.

Tom Kimbis was currently serving in the role of executive vice president and general counsel. He served as SEIA’s interim CEO in from April 2016 until January 2017 when the previous President and CEO Rhone Resch stepped down.

“We have nothing but positive things to say about Tom and Christopher, and we wish them well in the future endeavors,” Hopper said. “Their service to SEIA is well known, and we couldn’t have accomplished what we have without them.”

Hopper said that with that trade case closed for now, the priorities of the association are shifting toward the regional transmission organizations, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state battles.

With such shifts in priorities came a need to evaluate where the best use of resources, and though Kimbis and Mansour had long served in the SEIA executive structure, Hopper made the decision to move on without their services. The changes, Hopper told SolarWakeup, are in line with the new strategic plan presented to the board earlier this year.

“Don’t misunderstand the moves – trade is still a significant issue,” Hopper said. “But with new priorities come the need for personnel changes, and we made decisions we think are in the association – and the industry’s – best interests.”

CleanChoice Wants To Accelerate Trend Of Businesses Seeking 100% Clean Energy

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

As more businesses decide to pursue 100% clean energy goals, they often need people to help them get there. CleanChoice Energy has launched a new service in several states designed to do just that.

The announcement comes on the heels of solar’s own national association, the Solar Energy Industries Association, signing an agreement with WGL Energy Services to offset its employees’ travel with 373 solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) from two solar projects in Virginia and Maryland, respectively. The move is an effort for the association to practice what it preaches to become carbon neutral.

It didn’t get the positive press it deserved for its decision, and it deserved it. SEIA’s move showed that businesses of all sizes and types can move to 100% clean energy given the proper driving spirit – and it shows the way for other associations in the space to do the same. Leadership like this is what will accelerate business decisions to go solar.

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The CleanChoice Energy program is designed to accelerate the clear trend the solar industry is seeing as businesses transition from a fossil-fuel to a clean-energy future. Each year, big corporations like Wal-Mart, Target and others vie for the honor of being the company to have the largest installed solar capacity in the country as highlighted in SEIA’s Solar Means Business Report.

While those large companies have their own teams dedicated to making the transition, smaller companies need guidance, which is the niche CleanChoice Energy is trying to fill.

The new CleanChoice program will initially be available to partners serving Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., who want to bring their businesses and nonprofits into the 100% clean energy revolution.

“Commercial businesses and large nonprofits are eager to choose 100% renewable energy, and we’re excited to be able to work with brokers to help them make the switch,” said Tom Matzzie, Founder and CEO of CleanChoice Energy. “With CleanChoice Energy’s 100% renewable energy products, businesses and large nonprofits can purchase 100% solar and wind from the region in which they operate.”

According to their release, CleanChoice Energy’s Broker Program offers a dedicated team to provide personalized service to our partners which includes both custom and matrix pricing options, as well as exceptional account management services. The company maintains a Net Promoter Score that far exceeds industry standards. The new program will also provide brokers and consultants access to innovative energy products such as CleanChoice Energy Community Solar.

Additional CleanChoice Energy Broker Program benefits include:
● Quarterly review of account portfolios;
● Post service account management including environmental impact statements;
● Customer promotional materials to share their renewable power purchase;
● Flexible commission plans with timely and accurate reporting.

Why Solar Permitting Matters And What You Can Do To Help: A Discussion With SEIA’s Abigail Ross Hopper

permitting

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

At the beginning of June, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) co-hosted a meeting in San Francisco, the purpose of which was to find ways to reduce extra costs associated with going solar. These costs, known as soft costs, include the cost of permitting, inspections, customer acquisition and other issues. SolarWakeup caught up with SEIA’s President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper to discuss how the meeting went and what the next steps will be.

SolarWakeup: What was the purpose of this first meeting?

Abigail Ross Hopper (ARH): This was an introductory meeting, and as such, we think we did a nice job of laying the issues on the table. The next step broadly will be to identify concrete solutions, and determine specifically what it’s going to take to dramatically reduce soft costs. We see this as both a real and a critically important opportunity for the industry.

SWup: Why is the issue of permitting so important to the industry?

ARH: The process to design, permit, inspect and interconnect is much more burdensome in the United States than it is in other developed economies. Inconsistent interpretations of the rules (which can be national, regional, and local) from jurisdiction to jurisdiction makes the process inefficient and costly for both solar companies and permitting offices while also leading to customer frustration during a lengthy permitting process. That customer frustration can lead to contract cancelation, meaning all the time and money spent on such customers is lost and must be made up on systems that are completed. All in all, this contributes to a typical residential PV system in the U.S. costing about twice as much as a typical system in Australia. The current permitting and inspection process exists to ensure the safe installation of the system but there is a better, more effective way.

SWup: How can the industry participate?

ARH: Several organizations and companies, including Sunrun, Mosaic, SEIA and The Solar Foundation (TSF), are co-leading an effort, in collaboration with other companies and organizations, to develop a plan to thoughtfully streamline the process in the U.S. while maintaining high safety and quality of work standards. SEIA will build on the expertise and success of its Codes & Standards work and TSF will build off the work of its SolSmart program. Industry can participate and shape the campaign by joining SEIA and learning about and espousing to cities the successes of SolSmart.

SWup: What conclusions were reached at the meeting?

ARH: The participants are continuing discussions to develop and finalize an aggressive plan of action. Organizations and companies have seen a clear need to address this problem and have made commitments to work on this to reduce soft costs. More details to come soon.

SWup: What affect do you see these discussions having on the segment?

ARH: This is about making solar more affordable. More affordable means more accessible to more Americans and businesses. Cutting deadweight loss and unnecessary steps and costs benefit everyone.

SWup: What is the next step?

ARH: We’re continuing to build the coalition and assess what it is going to take to do this right. But real support in resources and funding from the industry will be crucial.

SWup: What policy prescriptions at the federal or state level can help move the needle on this?

ARH: This issue does not fall neatly into federal or state policy lines but there are opportunities to engage at national, state and local levels. All will be necessary in the end.

For more background on the permitting initiative outlined by Abby, you can catch Yann’s interview with Andrew Birch

U.S. Solar Continues To Grow Despite Significant Headwinds

U.S. solar

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

First the good news: The overall U.S. solar industry grew year over year by 13%, adding 2.5 GW-DC in the first quarter of 2018.

Now the bad news: That’s a 37% quarter-over-quarter decrease.

So the latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insights Report, put out by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, is a bit of a mixed bag. But the fact that the U.S. solar market has shown any growth at all, in light of heavy tariffs on module imports, flat residential growth and a significant decrease in “non-residential” installations, is a good sign that the industry may well weather the storms.

“The solar industry had a strong showing in the first quarter,” said SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “This data shows that solar has become a common-sense option for much of the U.S. and is too strong to be set back for long, even in light of the tariffs. States from California to Florida have stepped up with smart policies that will drive investment for years to come.”

“This is a promising indicator that constraints to residential PV growth like segment-wide customer acquisition challenges and national installer pullback are abating,” GTM Senior Analyst Austin Perea said. “However, these problems are not entirely solved, as we’re seeing slowdowns in states with a relatively high penetration of PV installations.”

The report notes that the three most active markets – New York, New Jersey and Maryland – will continue to contract, but Perea said he expects those declines to be offset by increases in emerging markets. In particular, Perea cited Florida – a market SolarWakeup has reported on extensively as it has taken off this quarter – as one of the significant bright spots as solar development skyrocketed in the state. In part, solar’s growth in the Sunshine State is being fueled by increasingly active third-party solar options, like Sunrun’s lease and Sunnova’s loan programs.

So far this year, Florida has added more solar than it did in all of 2016, which was the high-water mark for solar development in the United States so far.

GTM says it expects growth in the overall U.S. market will be flat, although the analysis couldn’t have foreseen the recent Chinese decision to decimate its own solar market which, if the module oversupply spills into the United States, could spark unanticipated growth in the U.S. solar market as markets that the tariffs had closed suddenly open again.