Dive Brief:
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The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Solar Energy Finance Association (SEFA) are joining forces and forming a new entity under SEIA.
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Together, the organizations aim to support the broad deployment of low-cost solar power by facilitating better access to investment capital.
- The associations will create the Solar Energy Finance Advisory Council (SEFAC), to leverage members’ insight to expand and lower the cost of investment capital.
Dive Insight:
The rapid deployment and expansion of the wind power industry had a lot to do with financial innovations and incentives such as the production tax credit and financial structures designed to take advantage of those credits.
Among the top goals of the newly combined solar organizations is the expansion of similar tools for solar power development, including wider use of tax equity from banks, corporations and other potential investors and greater use of asset backed securitization.
“We are excited to combine with SEFA for the good of the solar industry,” Tom Kimbis, interim president of SEIA, said in a statement.
In December, SEIA picked Abigail Ross Hopper as its new CEO. She was previously head of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and director of the Maryland Energy Administration and an adviser to former Gov. Martin O’Malley.
In April, Rhone Resch said he was stepping down as head of SEIA after 12 years at the industry group. In November, Resch became an independent director of Sunworks.