Solar Energy Industries Association elects new board chair, adds new board member, committee members

As 2024 gets underway, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) kicked things off with several changes to its board of directors, including new board chair Darren Van’t Hof and a new at-large member: the solar racking and mounting equipment manufacturer known as PanelClaw.

Van’t Hof is the managing director of environmental finance for U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, a subsidiary of U.S. bank. He has served on SEIA’s board since 2011 and has distinguished himself as an industry voice on solar and storage finance topics, particularly in areas of project finance and tax equity.

“Now more than ever, SEIA is one of the most well-positioned organizations to lead its members into the energy transition,” Van’t Hof said. “The solar industry is set to grow exponentially in the years ahead and SEIA’s commitment to ensuring equitable outcomes to that growth has always impressed me.”

While PanelClaw’s CEO Costa Nicolaou has served as an elected SEIA board member for a decade, this marked the first year for the Enstall company to join the board as well as an at-large member. The company has made more than 3 GW worth of rooftop solar racking systems, and its CEO has, building on this, served as chair of SEIA’s distributed generation and manufacturing divisions.

“As we head into a consequential election year for clean energy, we’ll need strong leaders and advocates by our side,” Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA president and CEO, said. “Darren, Costa, and our new roster of board leaders have decades of experience working in renewable energy and are motivated to help SEIA deliver an abundant, prosperous clean energy future.”

As alluded to by Hopper, the board also took on a host of new executive committee memes this year. These members serve one-year terms, but the board also approved three electric at-large members, along with division and vice chairs, to serve two-year terms.