Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA®) is the driving force behind solar energy and is building a strong solar industry to power America through advocacy and education. As the national trade association of the U.S. solar energy industry, which now employs more than 250,000 Americans, we represent all organizations that promote, manufacture, install and support the development of solar energy. SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies to build jobs and diversity, champion the use of cost-competitive solar in America, remove market barriers and educate the public on the benefits of solar energy.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Professional association
- Industry Type:
- Solar Energy
- Market Focus:
- Nationally (across the country)
- Year Founded:
- 1974
- Employees:
- 11-100
Take a look at what SEIA is working on to help mee...
Take a look at what SEIA is working on to help meet the solar industry's goal of installing enough solar to power 2 million American homes each and every year by 2015:
- Advocating for market-based policy at the federal level
- Providing the most comprehensive solar market research including the quarterly Solar Market Insight report
- Offering SEIA members a wide range of benefits not available anywhere else in the solar industry
- Bringing together industry professionals to the best B2B solar events in North America, including Solar Power International and the regionally focused PV America
- Helping the SEIA members participate in the political process through the SolarPAC
- Assisting members of the media with any solar-related information relevant to their stories
History
Since 1974, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and its members have worked to promote, develop and implement the use of solar energy in the United States.
On January 24, 1974, a group of five industry members met in the noisy basement of the Washington Hilton to discuss the possibility of establishing an association for the solar industry. They agreed to create 'a broad-based trade association supporting prompt, orderly, widespread and open growth of solar energy resources now.' This was the beginning of SEIA's four decades of solar energy advocacy.
SEIA faced a host of formidable challenges early on, chief among them, building a profitable solar energy industry. Sheldon Butt, SEIA's first president, was famously quoted as saying 'shouldn't we have an industry before we can have an industry association?' But SEIA had emerged just as the effects of the first oil embargo were becoming painfully clear. SEIA would play a central role in integrating solar energy into the energy saving policies of the Carter Administration.
In the 1980s the solar industry faced one of its biggest challenges when President Reagan signed a tax bill that severely cut federal research funding and residential tax credits. Despite the political climate, SEIA, through its strength in numbers, was able to promote ongoing research and development funding, which kept solar energy a priority for the Department of Energy.
SEIA has grown tremendously from its early days. By the 1990s, SEIA had built the association to encompass 150 national members. As of January 2015, SEIA represents over one thousand companies from across the solar supply-chain, from all technology and market segments. Installers, project developers, manufacturers, contractors, financiers, law firms, and non-profits have all seen the value of joining SEIA and participating in the future of the solar industry in the U.S. Through the work of SEIA and its members, the solar industry has become the fastest growing industry in America.
Who we are
SEIA staff are passionate about growing and supporting the solar industry. We work with our member companies and other stakeholders to advocate for and expand the use of solar nationwide.
Our Vision
Our vision is to represent an industry that will be the single largest source of new energy generation over the next decade and to grow as the national voice of a larger, more unified and more diverse industry
Our Mission is to build a strong solar industry to power America.
Our Vision is to represent an industry that will be the single largest source of new electric generating capacity over the next decade and to grow as the national voice of a larger, more unified and more diverse industry.
Our Goals Include:
- By 2022, at least 100 GW of solar electric capacity will be installed in the United States.
- Solar will represent 5% of America’s annual electricity generation by 2022.
- Solar will represent the largest source of new electricity generation annually.
- Solar will be installed on 4 million rooftops throughout the United States by 2022.
- By 2050, at least 300 GW of solar thermal will be installed in the United States. Smart and effective solar heating and cooling policies can create new American jobs, stimulate the U.S. economy and protect the environment.
- Solar will continue to provide quality jobs for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
- Solar’s impact will be more diversified as the industry joins a collaborative effort towards the “electrification of everything.”
- Solar will enhance America’s energy and national security through diversification of energy resources, strengthening our electricity infrastructure providing resiliency to the grid, powering military bases and other means.
- The solar workforce and the consumers it serves will better reflect American diversity.