In a testimony before the Senate, SEIA said that a July 2025 Department of the Interior memo created more red tape for solar energy projects
These extensive new review requirements have effectively slowed or stalled solar development
This has impacted around 73 GW of solar and 43 GW of battery storage projects, including about 20 GW planned on public land
Faster, fair permitting is needed to keep power prices affordable and meet rising demand, it stressed
Since the July 15, 2025, Department of the Interior (DOI) memorandum increasing scrutiny of solar energy projects, it created 68 new layers of red tape, amounting to a moratorium on solar energy. Roadblocks to permitting endanger 73 GW of solar and 43 GW of battery storage projects in the country, out of which around 20 GW are on public land, thereby threatening billions of dollars of investment.
This is what Solar Energy Industry Association’s (SEIA) President and CEO, Abigail Ross Hopper, said in her recent testimony in front of the US Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, as she made a case for clearing permitting bottlenecks for solar and storage projects in the country.
She stressed that energy bills will rise without this energy and new grid infrastructure to transport it, leaving America unable to 'affordably serve' the rising demand from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification.
In her testimony, Hopper points out that states with higher deployment levels of solar and storage, like Texas, are experiencing lower and more stable electricity prices. She argued for streamlining permitting to address the energy affordability crisis in the country.
“Permitting reform must begin with this basic principle: projects that enter the federal permitting process must be allowed to move through that process in good faith and without unfair treatment based on energy source. And once a project receives a permit, that permit should be honored,” stressed Hopper while answering questions from Senators in her testimony on January 28, 2026.
The DOI’s memorandum mandated elevated federal review for all wind and solar projects by the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum. A total of 143 solar companies in the US reached out to the US Congress seeking reversal of the DOI memorandum, which they said is stalling solar development (see US Solar Industry Urges Congress To Fast-Track Permitting).