For the first time in nearly four decades, we have a meaningful opportunity to catapult the U.S. towards a position of global solar leadership.

U.S. scientists developed the first modern solar cell in 1953. During our moonshot era, this technology helped power our country’s advancement of satellites and telecommunications. In response to rising energy insecurity in the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter pushed unprecedented investments in solar energy to pursue energy independence. Carter remarked, “Nobody can embargo sunlight. No cartel controls the sun. Its energy will not run out. It will not pollute our air or poison our waters. It is free from stench and smog. The sun’s power needs only to be collected, stored and used.”

Carter’s failed reelection bid and a new era of cheap energy dissuaded the U.S. from a continued commitment to solar until 2006, when our country faced yet another energy crisis. Under President George W. Bush, a new wave of investments in research and development coupled with incentives for businesses and homeowners rekindled an industry and technology that had been relatively dormant.

Fifteen years of solar investments have borne significant fruit. The amount of solar energy consumed in the U.S. is now approximately 20 times what it was in 2006, and the solar workforce has subsequently grown by a factor of 13 during this same period. There are now roughly twice as many workers in the solar industry as there are in the coal industry. As substantial as these gains have been, we have been unable to reclaim the global leadership we held in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead, the U.S. is below average in the proportion of our energy supply derived from solar power.

Our reliance on nonrenewable sources of energy is a big deal. We have seen the sociopolitical power our energy sectors wield globally and locally. The human toll of our reliance on foreign energy has been front and center as the U.S. attempts to wrap up decades of conflict in oil rich regions of the world.

Here in Maine, the power struggle of our energy sectors has spread across every facet of traditional and social media as Central Maine Power and its allies contribute millions of dollars in advertising to public fights over transmission lines and their right to provide substandard service to captive Maine ratepayers. Meanwhile, a strong majority of Mainers opposing an unpopular transmission corridor have found themselves benefitting from oil and gas interests that have expended millions to oppose CMP and Hydro-Quebec.

One of the underappreciated benefits of distributed energy resources such as solar power is their ability to shift the power dynamics in a manner that democratizes our energy sector. Rather than relying on large, centralized power plants owned and operated by multinational conglomerates, distributed generation can shift energy production into the hands of those who use it.

Done well, this shift catalyzes economic development in rural areas and other historically disenfranchised communities and promotes a healthier democracy by putting power in the hands of the many instead of a select few. Were the U.S. to take decisive action and reclaim global solar leadership, we could simultaneously serve poorer communities that will disproportionately shoulder the impacts of the climate crisis and reverse the economic and human costs of leading from behind.

The reconciliation package being considered in D.C. provides Maine’s congressional delegation — Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree and Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King — with this opportunity. The proposal supports a critical power shift by making key investments in solar, battery storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicle technologies.

The reconciliation package also addresses several key issues that are limiting Maine’s ability to fully harness the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy technologies, including the costs of bolstering an antiquated electrical infrastructure and aging workforce. Additionally, the package recognizes the economic imperative of supporting domestic manufacturing and the American workforce necessary for building the infrastructure required to deliver energy and climate security.

Our delegation also has the opportunity to strengthen the reconciliation package to ensure Mainers of all incomes are able to access solar and battery storage technologies by supporting direct pay provisions of Section 25(D) for residential customers in a manner similar to that proposed for commercial customers.

Investments in American ingenuity helped the U.S. become a global leader in solar during our moonshot. It’s time for us regain control of our future by investing in the reconciliation package and making our sunshot.

Vaughan Woodruff is the director of the ReVision Energy Training Center, the innovative workforce development arm of ReVision Energy. He lives in Pittsfield.