SunCast 905: SEIA’s Next Chapter | Darren Van’t Hof on Solar, Storage and Focus for 2026
Mar 3, 2026
Darren Van't Hof, interim President and CEO of SEIA with two decades in finance and board leadership, discusses solar and storage momentum. He covers permitting and interconnection as key friction points. He explains why solar has won the cost battle. He outlines SEIA’s political and storage-focused priorities and the $25B storage outlook for 2026.
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Affordability Has Won The Cost Battle
- Solar and storage momentum is driven by clear affordability wins that have already largely settled the cost-competition debate.
- Darren Van't Hof says levelized costs have reached historic lows so policy uncertainty—not price—is now the main barrier to growth.
Permitting Is The Long Pole Slowing Projects
- Permitting has become a primary choke point slowing project development across multiple jurisdictions.
- Darren notes bipartisan efforts are forming to address permitting, but state-by-state interconnection issues still create friction.
Board Wanted Doers Not Caretakers After Leadership Change
- When Abby left, the search committee wanted action, not a caretaker, so Darren stepped in to move the board forward immediately.
- He launched a C4 apparatus and prepared a storage partnership announcement to quantify industry scope and costs.