What We’re Thankful For: The Solar ITC

Today is a day that Americans of all stripes gather with loved ones to celebrate and give thanks. We in the solar industry are thankful for a lot: our workers, our families and our companies, to name a few.

But there’s perhaps one central thing we can all thank for helping drive our industry forward, and that is the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC).

The ITC has created more than 200,000 jobs, helped start thousands of new businesses, pumped billions of dollars into our economy, and driven emissions reduction never seen before in the energy sector. This Thanksgiving, more than 15 million turkeys will be cooked using solar power in the United States, and we have the ITC to thank for that too.

The bad news is that the ITC will begin to sunset at the end of this year if we don’t act. To make matters worse, misguided trade policy has muted some of the ITC’s benefits: because of tariffs on imported solar panels, 1 million turkeys are being cooked today using dirty fuel sources that could have been powered by the sun.

itc thanksgiving

With a lot of help from our friends, SEIA is waging a campaign to get the credit extended in Congress this year. The ITC is proven, bipartisan and already on the books. Why would we turn our backs on its potential to create more jobs, boost the economy and reduce carbon emissions?

We’re thankful for our champions on Capitol Hill for helping move our fight to extend the ITC forward, and urge the rest of the Congress to follow suit. Let’s #DefendTheITC and #StopSolarTariffs to continue building the clean energy economy, cooking Thanksgiving turkeys with clean, affordable solar power, and creating job opportunities for thousands of hard-working Americans.