May 21, 2019

Manchin Welcomes West Virginia Solar Energy Representative To Senate Energy Committee

Dan Conant, Founder and President of Solar Holler, testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s opening remarks, please click here.

To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s questioning, please click here.

To watch a video of Mr. Conant’s testimony, please click here.

Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to examine opportunities to advance renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts in the United States. Mr. Dan Conant, Founder and President of Solar Holler, testified before the Committee about his company’s efforts to make solar energy affordable across Appalachia. Senator Manchin, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, questioned Mr. Conant about the legislative policies at both the state and federal level necessary to deploy renewable energy technologies.

“Where do you see the best mix of policies,” Senator Manchin asked.

 

 “As far as federal policies that can help us, even in states that have policy headwinds, so much of it comes back to the structures that are put in place either for tax credits or for federal loan and grant programs. So for instance, with USDA and the Rural Energy for America program, it can provide loans for up to 25 percent of the system costs for a business but the limitations they put are extremely unfavorable for any project in a state that doesn’t have power purchase agreements and there are 25 states in the country that don’t allow power purchase agreements that don’t have a competitive marketplace. Through the restrictions that the USDA program development staff have put into place they’ve really left out a large swath of the country,” Mr. Conant said.

The hearing also featured testimony from representatives from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, The Alliance to Save Energy and Cold Climate Housing Research Center.   

To watch the hearing in full, please click here.