Why We All Must Fight For The ITC

Annapolis, Maryland, serves as both the state capital and home of the United States Naval Academy. Founded in 1845, it is where some of the best and brightest U.S. naval officers are trained.

 

One of the first things they learn is the bosun’s calls—commands communicated by a high-pitched whistle by the Chief Petty Officer Boatswain’s Mate. One of those calls is the “all hands on deck” (AHOD), rousing all crew members from below decks to the main deck. It is often used when the ship is in danger.

 

Well, it’s time to sound the AHOD for the solar industry: The investment tax credit (ITC) is gravely at risk.

 

This is alarming and over the past seven years—since the last ITC extension—the solar industry became a significant driving force in jobs creation in the United States. Today more than 8,000 solar companies employ more than 174,000 people all around the country. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a reduction of the ITC from 30% to 10% for utility-scale and commercial projects, and complete elimination for residential installations could cost 100,000 jobs.

 

Let that number sink in for a minute. 100,000 jobs. Nearly 60% of the jobs created in the past seven years—will be at risk.

 

So whose responsibility is it to keep the ITC alive? Everyone involved in the solar industry. Each and every one of those 174,000 people whose living depends on this wonderful industry. Those 174,000 are the only hope.

 

Become An Evangelist

Guy Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist of Apple, was the originator of the term “evangelism marketing.” In effect, the marketing plan stems from a businesses’ (and their customers’) passion for and belief in the product. 

 

For those who can talk solar all day and all night, they are already solar evangelists. For those who can’t, it is important to go to the SEIA website immediately and become familiarized with the pro-solar and pro-ITC extension talking points. This is not a theoretical fight or a “when I get to it” task. This should be at the top—or pretty darn near the top—of everyone’s to-do list every day. It isn’t something external to the job. It’s something that must become part of the job.

 

Constituents passionate about solar power should explain to their Congressmen how it’s important and how it positively affects their district. Solar power evangelists should set up meetings with their district representatives, set up and attend town hall meetings and then send notes to their customers urging them to come to these meetings. When concerned citizens fill a congressman’s office, it forces them to sit up and take notice. Solar power evangelists should also invite their representatives to their places of work and include them in solar related ribbon cutting ceremonies. Senators and Congressional representatives need to understand solar companies, solar workers, and solar supporters live and vote in their districts.

 

The ITC needs all the support it can get, with committed solar power evangelists fighting for it.

 

State SEIA branches are great places to organize strategies. Many solar power companies are heavily involved in their regional SEIA branch, MDV-SEIA, and their members talk constantly about possible solutions and actions to take, as individuals and as a group, to make sure their voices are heard on Capitol Hill.

 

General predictions or expectations of the ITC being extended before its expiration on December 31, 2016 are incredibly naive and foolish. These expectations are also an excuse to do nothing, which is exactly what the solar industry will become if the ITC goes away, nothing. 

 

It is generally understood little gets done in government until a topic reaches crisis-level panic, and this Congress has been (and may continue to be) challenging to say the least. It’s unlikely there will be any movement on an ITC extension from Congress before the fourth quarter of 2016, and maybe not even then (which is why voting is such a critical part of this strategy, but that’s another article for another day). 

 

The groundwork must be laid now, and it can’t be a one-shot deal. The American Solar Industry is at stake. Don’t let a lack of action make it disappear.

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Clifford is the CEO of Standard Solar

 

Standard Solar | www.standardsolar.com