Last Updated: April 23rd, 2021 at 8:08 am
Read Time: 3 Minutes

On a June day in 1979, Jimmy Carter unveiled 32 thermal solar panels perched atop the roof of the West Wing of the White House. The setting was perfect – the sun was shining as the press came out to document this momentous occasion. These are arguably the most famous solar panels ever installed.

Even Jimmy Carter recognized the historic nature of the solar panels, as he remarked at the time how generations would see the panels as “a curiosity, a museum piece” or “a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.” And, Carter was right, some of his White House solar panels are now museum pieces.

President Ronald Reagan removes Carter’s solar panels

Although Carter’s solar panels remained on the roof of the White House for seven years, throughout Ronald Reagan’s first term and into his second, the solar panels were removed for “roof repairs” and never re-installed.

They were put into storage in a warehouse in Virginia and pretty much forgotten. The Reagan administration also let Carter’s financial solar incentives expire as