905: SEIA’s Next Chapter | Darren Van’t Hof on Solar, Storage and Focus for 2026

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Solar right now employs over 300,000 people.

The coal industry by last estimates was under 60,000 people.

We are still on a relative basis, a younger industry to those.

We are catching up.

Some of it is really learning how the game is played a little better,

getting out of our maybe altruistic ways around politics

and knowing that the rules of the game are pretty brutal.

It's a money game and we need to just get better at it.

And we're going to.

If you, like Mini, are curious what is going on

at the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The former president and CEO has stepped down.

Darren Vanthoff has stepped in as interim

and long time board member and chair.

So I reached out and said, Darren,

do you want to talk about it?

And he said, sure, why not?

We're joined here at the Hubstage by Darren Vanthoff,

the interim CEO at, is it president and CEO?

President and CEO at Solar Energy Industries Association.

Better known as, there is so much that we cannot discuss with you

but we'll discuss what we can.

So without further ado, Darren, thank you for taking time

out of what I know is a very busy week.

You're stepping into this role at a really pivotal moment

for our industry.

And I'm curious where you see solar and storage

standing heading into 2026.

That's a great question, thanks for having me.

You know, I've been in the industry for about 20 years

and every year, there's a crisis every year.

There's something that's going to be the death knell

of the industry.

And I think we've seen attempts at that

in the last 12 months, no question.

The one thing I would say about both storage and solar

is that the pull through is strong.

The economics are really good.

The affordability message is winning.

And I think it's not a winning message long term

for folks to try to slow it down

because it really speaks to affordability.

So the momentum, we're on the right side of the momentum

and we're going to get through the blocking and tackling

that's in front of us every day.

Are you seeing specific points of friction

that is slowing projects down?

Sure.

Yeah, permitting has been a real choke point.

And I will say I'm cautiously optimistic.

There's folks in a very bipartisan way

are trying to work on that.

There's a lot of pitfalls in working on anything

in a bipartisan way these days.

But it's something that we're seeing some momentum.

And I think that's good.

I mean, there's still a lot of state-by-state issues

with interconnection and things like that.

But those tend to work themselves out.

But the long pull in the 10 is really around permitting.

And then obviously, certainty around FIAC.

And we have some, not all.

It's usually used in the long pull in the 10, actually,

because that's a terminology that has been used to say

that we're all in this together, right?

So I'm curious, you know, I've both 20 years in the industry.

We've seen the ups and downs.

We've seen the infighting, frankly, in the industry.

Is there anything about this moment that feels different?

I think from a cost competitiveness,

we're probably at the lowest cost we've ever been,

particularly on a levelized cost of energy across all sectors.

It really isn't a competitive race on cost anymore.

We feel like we've won that.

It's really just now making sure that the message resonates

that it's the most affordable way

to bring electrons onto the grid.

And anything that's slowing that down

is going to increase cost.

Yeah.

As the interim, and while presumably there is a search period

and time for a permanent president and CEO,

part of your job continues to be,

because you've been on the board for 15 years,

to shepherd the vision and position the organization

to really meet today's challenges.

How is that taking shape?

You just had the most recent board meeting here in San Diego

this week.

I'd love to speak on what progress you see.

Yeah.

Well, one of the things that happened when Abby left

in the search committee was formed,

the first thing they said was,

we don't want a caretaker to come in.

We want someone to move the board forward.

And I was on that side of the board at the time.

So a couple of things that we're going to work on right away.

One is political engagement.

We've always been politically engaged.

We have a pack.

We get into the room.

We're in the rooms with Treasury.

We're in the rooms with legislators.

That's always been true.

Where we haven't done is really on the ground game effort

on a state-by-state or county-by-county basis.

And we have a C4 that we've created.

And that is an apparatus that we can use.

We can raise money for it.

And we can start changing some of the outcomes.

Another area is storage.

So, SEA is going to lead in that space.

We announced we're going to announce a partnership tomorrow.

And that partnership is going to truly identify the size

of the industry, the scope of the industry, the cost.

And one of the things I can say is,

if you look at the forecast just for 2026 alone,

it's about $25 billion of capital

that's going to be needed just for storage.

And storage for what it's worth, it transcends technologies.

It seems to be a little more apolitical,

so it has some durability.

And another point on $25 billion,

the solar industry alone wasn't $25 billion three, four years ago.

So it's really, it's outpacing some of the other sectors.

Would you be okay if I pull a thread on the pack?

Sure, I don't know what you can and can't talk about.

And it wasn't part of our talking points.

But since you mentioned, we have a pack.

One of the things that we've covered on the show

is that we have historically,

well, yeah, historically as an industry,

we have not been able to convince enough people

to put our money where our mouth is.

We are outspent 20 to 1, 30 to 1,

depending where you look.

How are we going to encourage folks

to participate in the pack,

which has historically been underrepresented

in terms of where we should be supporting the work that see it does?

Right, one of the things I always like to compare

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The coal industry by last estimates was under 60,000 people.

coal continues to raise enormous amounts of money

on a political level.

So there is a period of time that we are still

on a relative basis, a younger industry to those.

We are catching up.

I think some of it is really learning

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getting out of our maybe altruistic ways around politics

and knowing that the rules of the game are pretty brutal.

It's a money game and we need to just get better at it

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I'll tell you what I'd like to see.

And this is Darren, not Darren Toggins,

and you go talking.

I'd like to see, you know, in the oil and gas sector, coal, et cetera,

you're expected to contribute to the pack.

It's a part of the bonus stipulation, essentially.

Oh, you're getting this bonus.

And we know what the bonus is for.

Frankly, I just think that we should be a little more

hard-line as an industry internally in our organizations

that have the corporate spine to say,

we are going to stand behind putting dollars into pack.

And that pack is going to know what to do with it.

And that last piece, I can't speak to.

But that's where I hope to see our industry mature.

Yeah, that's an excellent point.

I think the industry, they have underspent

in their political giving.

And there is some tentativeness to it

because of the nature that the game has played.

And it's also an industry of devout rule followers.

Not that anybody doesn't want to follow the rules.

But you're right.

I mean, folks do need to step up.

And I think they need to be shown a vehicle to step into.

And I think we could do that.

I look forward to seeing that.

Regulatory permitting uncertainty keeps coming across

the industry up across the industry time and time again.

What does that look like on the ground?

And what's the ground game for Sia going forward?

Right.

Well, uncertainty, I'll speak to that right away

because I've been in finance for 20 years.

And uncertainty is an absolute killer for flow of capital.

So as these things become uncertain,

as people are building their projects right now,

they're busy, they have their financing lockdown.

If you start looking into 2027 and 2028

and you start talking to banks and bigger banks,

they're a little nervous about committing capital

where a couple of years ago they weren't.

They could commit a couple of years out.

And now they're waiting for some of these things.

So that ripple effect is that while this isn't a today issue,

it will be a tomorrow issue

the longer the uncertainty prevails.

So those things are going to have to get worked out

and quickly.

I don't know if being an election year is the best time for that,

but we're going to work on it.

Yeah, messaging is going to be a key enabler

or dissabler for lack of a better phrase.

It seems every conversation that we have here on stage

is about low growth in particular from AI and data centers

and how fast it's coming.

I just had the president of NYSERDA on stage

talking about I think a rather contrarian view

on how and why they would want data centers.

How do you feel A, as industry we are doing,

at convincing the folks that can make decisions

that the opportunity is right for us?

And how do you feel the solar industry

and the storage industry is stepping into that opportunity

that has been presented?

Right.

So on data centers, it's interesting.

If you talk to the procurement folks

around building a data center,

they're pretty agnostic about where the energy comes from.

They will, you've seen some going into the development side

of the business so that they can control the electrons

that are being built and that they're being directed to them.

But the solar and storage industry

is one of many energy sources that can satisfy that demand.

But the storage and solar industry

are absolutely the quickest to supply it without question.

Yep.

The other, you know, just to say on data centers,

there has been a lot of chatter around,

you know, developing power behind the meter directly on site.

One of the things I think people don't always acknowledge

is the amount of energy that they actually consume.

So developing an on-site power generation

is a little bit challenging given the amount of energy

they actually consume.

So it really does have to be all the above.

But storage is the quickest to market and the cheapest.

Another of the questions that I spent some time on with Doreen

from NYSERDA is the role that storage plays as a standalone asset,

as infrastructure in what will be the modern grid.

How is CIP positioning the amazing team

that you have, by the way, around storage

to empower the storage side of our business

to compete in the marketplace,

even without needing to say the word solar.

Right.

Right.

I mean, so a lot of, you know, we just launched,

again, our whole storage platform

and we're going to continue to launch it.

We want it to be a place for the storage industry to come

because we, as we advocate for solar,

we are advocating for storage.

And you see storage having so much success in states

like particularly in Texas, the amount of storage

that has actually helped stabilize that grid.

It's a fact-based analysis that needs to get surface more.

There's a lot of folks walking the show floor

asking questions about technology,

but also asking questions about markets

and where they should prioritize their time.

Given both your position now at SEA,

as well as 20 years of experience,

what advice would you give

on where folks should prioritize their effort

over the next 12 months to win in this next growth cycle?

It's an excellent question.

I think the folks that are selling products,

if they are true to the economics of their products,

it will win.

So if you are building behind the meter,

front of the meter,

if you're building utility scale or residential,

if your economic proposition is better

than what your competitor is offering

or whatever another subsector is, you'll win.

You don't have to necessarily be subsector-specific

because all the sectors are growing.

The pie keeps getting bigger every year.

Are there any mistakes that you see folks making

over and over?

I mean, you've got to, you have 10-year

to have seen a number of mistakes, repeat themselves.

I've, you know, some of them are Econ 101.

Companies will put a lot of debt on sometimes

for purposes of growth.

Oftentimes, the capital markets are looking

for places to put capital.

So even on the equity side,

I think a lot of companies get talked into taking

outside capital, maybe sooner than they're ready.

And that can get them into a little bit of trouble.

Sometimes you can raise the money,

but it's more important than you can actually deploy

money.

Is there something that you would encourage folks

as maybe from the position of mentoring folks

that are coming in to build these projects

on an action that would help move projects forward faster?

Maybe something to, the oft-quoted,

what to stop doing?

I don't know.

That's a tricky one.

I'm not, I don't know that because I don't want to get

into people's business models.

Everyone has their own path to success.

And, you know, I think they're all good.

Like every company I see out here,

they're here because they've had a level of success.

So there really isn't anyone like me who could say,

oh, you should be doing that better or that better.

I think sound economics are always a safe place to start.

Yeah.

So I don't know the quick math, 15 times four,

but you've been to a lot of board meetings.

How are you feeling coming out of this board meeting?

What are you most encouraged by?

I was encouraged by the enthusiasm.

I think there's a lot of board members

who are really excited.

You know, there's a lot of challenges in the board members

that have been around for a long time,

including me have seen them

and some even worse than what we're facing today.

So I think part of it is taking the noise out of the room,

the external noise out of the room

and just focusing on the core of what got us here

and how we're gonna continue to win.

And I think if we focus on that,

we keep repeating the themes around affordability

and it is a winning argument.

It isn't a, we're not trying to shape something

that it isn't, it wins.

Yeah.

And people feel really good about that.

Yeah.

A question that I know folks want to have our wondering about

is are we watching for white smoke from the chimney

for the next president and CEO?

Is this the process that's gonna take a year or two years?

Some.

I hope it goes fairly quickly.

I'm gauging my level of interest in it.

I will say the work is a lot more interesting.

I guess it's a lot more engaging

than I initially would have thought from the outside.

It's actually it's fascinating and I'm enjoying it.

Yeah.

So is the interim position like a trial period?

Is that something where you're like trying it out

and might continue in this role?

I suppose it is.

Yeah.

Because from the outside looking at it's not obvious,

it's not obvious I think to the industry.

Like, huh, is this someone who's been on the board

for a long time going to stand in the place of

and help manage while the person is found

or potentially gonna take the role?

I think there's certainly folks that would be championing

and cheering you on because you've got a lot of experience

to add to this role.

I appreciate that.

No, thanks.

I don't think I would do it if I didn't think I could be successful.

Yeah.

So I think that's what I'm gauging right now.

How much success can we really have?

Fantastic.

Well, we wish you all the success that you can possibly achieve

and we will be watching for more signals in the market.

I'm certainly excited for the announcement

that you guys are gonna make tomorrow

and for all of the effort that is going into

elevating the storage side of what Sia is doing.

Thank you.

Darren Vance-Hoff, our interim president and CEO

for the Solar Energy Industry Association.

Thank you very much.

Good to see you.

Yeah, I'm so the warrior.