Thoughts on Solar

We are fans of SEIA, the Solar Energy Industry Association, as we believe that they do important work lobbying on behalf of solar in Washington, D.C.  But a blog post by Chet Henry over at Red, Green & Blue titled, “Who has the best job in solar? Bet it’s not you,” (h/t SolarWakeup) had us spewing our coffee in disbelief—they are paying him what???

It turns out that SEIA is paying its President/CEO, Rhone Resch, $786,000 per year—to say nothing of a gym membership and guaranteed first class air travel.  Say what?

Now this is not an attack on Mr. Resch, whom I respect.  But seriously, SEIA, what the heck are you doing?  Julia Hamm, who heads up SEPA, the Solar Electric Power Association (which tries to get electric utilities to adopt solar-friendly policies) gets paid roughly a third of Resch, at $286,000.  Sorry, but there is no way Resch is worth three times what Hamm is.  Worse still, according to the blog post, SEIA’s records reveal three other executive women at SEIA, none of whom makes more than a third of what Resch makes.

Frankly, we have been concerned for some time about SEIA’s dues structure which is disproportionately high for small revenue solar companies, and is one of the chief reasons that 80% of solar companies aren’t members.  Indeed, we are no longer members as it simply didn’t seem like a worthwhile investment for our all too finite capital.  Dumping nearly 800 G’s into one man’s salary, however, is no way to say to small installation companies, “we represent you and want you to participate.”

SEIA has noted that there are more than 140,000 people in this country working in the solar industry.  I wonder how many of them are getting paid what SEIA is paying its President?  SEIA has said that there are more than 5,000 solar companies in this country.  I wonder how many of their President/CEOs are getting paid anywhere near what SEIA is paying its CEO?

I simply don’t buy the notion that you need to pay someone that kind of salary to attract the talent needed to do the job.  After all, Ms. Hamm has to hobnob with the heads of IOUs who make 10 times as much as she does, but she can do it for nearly half a million dollars less than SEIA is paying out.

Time for reform at SEIA.