June 17, 2025, Washington, D.C. – Hundreds of solar workers and supporters joined the Save Main Street Solar rally on Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge congress to protect solar energy tax credits. Solar Holler founder and CEO, Dan Conant, was invited to speak.
We’ve shared his remarks below:
Good morning everyone! It’s awesome to see so many friends from around the country here–particularly my Amicus Coop friends. My name is Dan Conant. I’m the founder and CEO of Solar Holler in West Virginia–where for the past dozen years, my colleagues and I have been forging new ground; spreading solar in the heart of coal country. .
You know, for these past 249 years, America has done incredible things. We brought light to the night. We brought sound to the deaf. We mastered the atom. We conquered polio, rocketed ourselves to the moon and flung our voices across oceans and time. We invented the transistor, and manipulated sand into the chip, and–yes– we made the frickin’ solar panel.
But we didn’t just invent those things and forget them–we made them for the world. At scale.
For 249 years, our people built industries and changed lives. And my people–my Appalachian tribe–we powered the nation that whole time. We did it with sweaty, backbreaking work. We ventured deep into the heart of our mountains, we loaded train cars and fed furnaces. We gave our limbs and our lungs and even our lives to the cause of powering the world.
West Virginia’s always been known for our coal. But in the past 12 years, something magical has happened. Solar has popped up in unexpected places. On churches, on schools, on pepperoni roll bakeries and steel mills. In neighborhoods and hollers on both sides of the tracks. These projects are everywhere–and they’re being done the right way. We’re building them with union labor. We’re building them with solar panels from Georgia, and inverters from South Carolina, and racking from our neighbors across the river in Ohio.
And in West Virginia, we’re not just hosting projects–we’re making the building blocks of the renewable revolution. We’re making the batteries that will bring the sun to the dark. We’re making the steel that is lifting up solar panels around the country. West Virginia sand is being crafted into silicon for solar panels around the world.
All of that is at risk, though. The jobs that support 900 West Virginian families are at risk–and 300,000 across America. If the House bill passes, even the towns those jobs support are at risk. Take–Weirton, West Virginia where 700 talented folks are building batteries–out of the town’s 7,000 people. 10% of their population is supported by solar.
To me, this has never been just about the climate or clean air. This is about building things for the world that matter. This is about allowing small towns and rural America to thrive. This is about making sure that the America of the past 249 years–the America that invents, and invests, and builds–continues to be the America of the next 249 years.
We’re in a race right now. A race to develop, and build, and control, the technology that will remake civilization this century. In this race to build AI, the entire balance of global power is at stake. The outcome will impact world economies, our national security, and our entire way of life. It’s a race that I expect America to win. But America can only win if we have power–abundant power. And a strong, robust solar industry is key to ensuring sufficient power. Kicking out our knees at this pivotal moment doesn’t do America any good.
That’s why we need you here today–to bring that message to our Senators. To convince them that the only way America can keep being the America that we know and love–the one that leads the world–is with a healthy, vibrant solar industry. To convince them that our jobs and our industry and our towns are worth fighting for. To convince them that a strong solar industry means a strong America. Thank y’all for being here, for being a part of this movement, and for being a part of this industry.
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