True South Solar co-founders Eric Hansen (left) and Shawn Schreiner (right) on the steps of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on April 15, 2015, for Solar Lobby Day.
SEIA has long urged contractors to lobby their local governments and help keep solar on the upswing. Oregon contractor True South Solar (No. 386 on the upcoming 2015 Top 500 Solar Contractors List) was among the companies to answer.
True South Solar joined others in the state’s solar organization (OSEIA) this year to propose four solar bills, ranging from extending Oregon’s feed-in-tariff and renewable energy tax credit to recommending community solar. Unfortunately, the bills were defeated, but Eric Hansen, general manager of True South Solar, said they learned a lot and are ready to start the next battle.
“[Solar installers have] been the beneficiaries of preexisting tax credits and incentives, and we’ve been able to build our businesses around them over the last five years or so,” Hansen said. “Now it’s really important to get more involved. We saw a great effort [in Oregon]. If nothing else, we learned a lot. We really circled the wagons and flushed out a lot of key players and built a lot of relationships that now we need to develop further. Now it’s just systematically implementing new plans that’ll bring a lot better results.”
Hansen said a successful social media campaign for solar in Oregon really brought everyone together as a state. While the bills didn’t pass, it was great to see how power increased with numbers.
“I really think our jobs depend on it,” Hansen said of lobbying. “Staying in touch with our representatives is huge, especially if we have to negotiate with utility rate increases or demand charges or anything that could kill small-scale solar. We have to have those relationships before we come to the table. We know that we’re up against a lot of money and power, and it’s going to take a grassroots effort. We’re not going to be able to win on money and power. We need the power of the people, which is ultimately greater than the money and the power that the utility companies have.”
Allocating resources to lobbying is important, even for a small contractor, Hansen said. He estimates he personally spends 15% of his time helping with legislative work with OSEIA, and True South Solar plans to make a bigger contribution this year and in the future. All contractors should try to help in some way—even if it’s just stuffing envelopes.
“Five years ago I read about a company in Boulder, Colorado, that had a dedicated policy member of their staff. It seemed crazy to me to be able to have the resources to do that,” Hansen said. “Now it seems crazy to me that even a small contractor wouldn’t allocate at least part of a staffer’s position toward policy. We all need to be involved. It needs to be something in our workday. The earlier, the better.”
