Solar Energy Industries Association

And they almost d- don't even seem to care about the fact that there's such a big data center backlog for more capacity because they hold the line, and those data centers basically are gonna pay up somehow.

But boy, we're pushing every, every way we possibly can to overcome that and move it faster, and just to p- capitalize what you said about supporting your local and national solar policy organizations like CALSA, like SIA, like all the other state organizations.

Yeah, then the market will reflect that.

My optimism, to the extent that I'm optimistic, which I am, um, is that eventually the policymakers have no choice.

And that's a really positive sign.

Abby Hopper at SIA did a really good job in her tenure of helping build the strengths and the bones and the sinews of SIA.

And now the next generation of leadership is going to build on that in a very tough environment.

But I think with that kind of sophistication, success will come.

Now, all that said, the renewable energy industry itself is divided over whether this is a useful approach.

Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota who now leads the Solar Energy Industries Association, has said his organization's job is to make more friends rather than more enemies, an arguably rational position for a trade group that needs access to both parties.

Steve McBee, meanwhile, launched an organization called AMT to encourage clean energy professionals to engage more visibly in politics, arguing that a major infrastructure industry, and one that is growing in scale by the year, still behaves as if it were a marginal alternative, and that needs to change.

These approaches can, of course, coexist, but there's a tension between building a coalition and threatening to make an example of anyone who doesn't fall into line, and each tactic can make the other more difficult.

have an exciting guest today on WCS Talks Unplugged.

And through the grapevine, I heard some wonderful things about Abby Hopper, former president and CEO of SIA and founder of Solar Sisters.

Such a pleasure to have this conversation with you today.

Thank you for being with us.

Yeah.

I see that in you.

I see that you've had an opportunity through becoming the president and CEO of SIA back in 2017.

Tell me a little bit about what was going on in Abby's life.

But, you know, when Trump was elected in 16, I can remember being at RE+, not RE+, sorry, it was at the time SPI, which is actually now it is RE+, I was thinking ETC.

But at RE Plus, and at the time, Rowan Resch was the gentleman who was in charge of SIA, which is Solar Energy Industry Association.

And they had this massive campaign because they thought Trump would come in and just wipe everything out.

And ironically, where we view that today was not only did he not do that, he actually provided some – or the administration provided some stability for the industry and a longer wind down and a more curtailed wind down of – of ITC investment tax credits in the U S.

I do, too.

And in the meantime, I will encourage everyone, go visit SEIA.org, Solar Energy Industries Association, SEIA.org. Find out what Governor Pawlenty is talking about in detail.

Governor, good to talk to you.

As always, stay tuned, America.

The milestone comes after a strong second quarter in US solar.

The solar industry installed 11.4 gigawatts of new capacity according to the latest U.S. Market Insight report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood McKinsey.

That's a 45% jump year over year and a 43% increase from the first quarter of 2026.

Utility-scale solar accounted for 9.6 gigawatts of this new capacity.