For decades, the solar deployment industry was a bipartisan darling — a rare status in Washington. The solar Investment tax credit was not a product of progressive activism but was created by a Republican trifecta in 2005, then extended repeatedly with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Back then, solar deployment incentives were viewed as a straightforward investment policy to mobilize private capital, expand electricity supply, and support domestic jobs. Solar power plants were not a cultural symbol. They were essential infrastructure.
Today, that coalition has largely collapsed — and with it, support for the solar deployment industry.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act sharply curtailed many incentives for solar deployment while safeguarding — even strengthening — programs designed to support high-value solar manufacturing that creates long-term, good-paying American jobs. The residential solar tax credit expired at the end of 2025, utility-scale projects face compressed eligibility windows, and new restrictions on rooftop leasing and third-party ownership threaten business models.
These reversals did not happen overnight. They emerged gradually as trust eroded between the solar deployment industry and Republican policymakers.
Part of the breakdown stems from how solar was reframed in Washington. Democrats increasingly cast solar as a symbol of climate ambition and partisan loyalty, choosing to ignore the industry’s growing dependence on Chinese supply chains. Once solar became culturally owned by one party, polarization was inevitable. Unsurprisingly, Republican support for solar risked being interpreted as endorsing a broader climate agenda opposed by many conservatives.
Another factor is the solar trade associations, whose apparent goal is to maintain access to cheap Chinese panels regardless of the strategic cost. They have cried wolf repeatedly in response to policies addressing Chinese economic warfare and lawbreaking — and demand has never fallen off the cliff as predicted. That consistently pro-China playbook has left Republican policymakers fatigued and deeply distrustful.
Yet the underlying politics is more nuanced. Recent polling shows that Republican voters are not inherently hostile to solar. Support actually rises when projects use American-made technology with no ties to China. The lesson is clear: Republican skepticism is less about the technology itself than about the supply chains behind it.
The debate over Foreign Entity of Concern restrictions illustrates this dynamic. The widely held Republican view is that federal incentives should not subsidize Chinese jobs, particularly when supply chains intersect with national security. This position is not anti-solar. It is anti-dependence.
True to form, the solar deployment lobby resisted those restrictions, pressing for flexibility that Republicans interpret as, once again, protecting Chinese interests. Predictably, their positions reinforced the perception that solar deployment advocates want the benefits of federal subsidies without accepting the strategic constraints necessary to sustain them.
In Washington, credibility matters. Once policymakers conclude an industry doesn’t share their core objectives on national security and industrial resilience, no amount of rhetorical reframing easily restores it.
Instead of engaging those concerns directly, the industry’s response has been to double down on messaging — recruiting MAGA influencers and conservative media personalities to promote solar subsidies to Republican audiences, unconvincingly invoking themes like “energy dominance” and “America First.” But this tactic does little to address concerns and comes across as condescending and contrived.
If the solar deployment industry hopes to rebuild durable bipartisan support, it must stop trying to “convert” folks with rhetorical sleight of hand and instead, confront the issues Republicans consistently raise: supply-chain security, unfair trade practices and domestic manufacturing.
It should take a page from the playbook of America’s solar manufacturers — the genuinely American ones — who have demonstrated their commitment by investing billions in solar manufacturing and supply chains, creating tens of thousands of jobs, and ensuring supply security. Those companies are demonstrating that they’re America First through their actions, not just their words.
Republicans are not inherently opposed to solar. They are opposed to policies that weaken American industry or deepen dependence on adversarial regimes.
Until the solar deployment industry engages those concerns seriously, the bipartisan coalition that once powered solar’s growth will remain in eclipse.
George David Banks is president and CEO of the American Council for Capital Formation. He has served as a senior energy policy adviser to Republicans in the White House and Congress.
