(Adapted off an older post of mine.)

Solar power is the most talked about exotic source. It is being used today to heat a few buildings and swimming pools. Its advocates conjure up visions of heating the whole country with it. They ignore its limitations, which are great...

While a building's roof may be large enough to hold solar "collectors" for a nearby swimming pool, the size requirements for the collectors are staggering when you begin talking about power plants.

-- The Ronald Reagan Column, November 1975

The White House roof was built between 1926 and 1929. In 1950, the four corners were removed as part of the White House renovation under President Truman which focused on the interior, so the roof was more or less unchanged.

1979 is when Carter installed the famous 32 solar panels, intended to heat water for the kitchen. The installation was done by the company ITC/Solar run by Dr. George C. Szego.

In 1986, the roof was leaking, and the National Roofing Institute did an evaluation. The layers of asphalt were becoming brittle, cracked, and separated. The panels were removed as part of the repair; the White House's official statement was that putting them back would be "unwise" based on cost.

Szego claimed in a January 2006 interview with Energy Design Update that White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan "felt the equipment was just a joke" and "had it taken down." This quote is somewhat suspicious in that the repairs definitely happened and instigated the panels being removed. It is still possible that the cost to put them back combined with the reticence on the part of the Chief of Staff was enough to leave the panels off.

There is no record of Reagan commenting publicly on the panels and he may not have been involved in the decision. (As you'll see in a moment, it's unlikely he would have minded it happening.)

For a little more of his opinion on solar, consider his Proclamation 4909 to observe March 19, 1982 as National Energy Education Day.

All of these energy sources will continue to have an important role. But new sources are coming along as well: atomic power, now used to generate more than 12 percent of our electricity; solar energy; synthetic fuels; biomass; and a host of other new technologies. The significant innovations in energy that took place over the past two hundred years were the product of the vision and foresight of citizens working through our free market economy.

He also discusses removing the oil price control and "regulations associated with those controls" in order to "create a healthy economy that enables citizens, businesses, and state and local governments to make rational energy production and consumption decisions which reflect the true value of this nation's resources." These are pro-oil points but arguably not necessarily anti-solar.

However, there was one definite anti-solar move from the Reagan administration that came right at the start. (It may have been conflated with the solar panels.)

The Solar Bank was authorized by the Energy Security Act of 1980 (signed by Carter) and gave loan subsidies and matching grants for "energy conservation and solar energy improvements".

The Reagan administration requested the program be closed in 1982. This was rejected by the House Appropriations subcommittee, but the appropriated funds for the Solar Bank were still being held up, resulting in a lawsuit by five members of Congress and the State of New York. The lawsuit mentions no staff had been hired since they were dismissed in January of 1981.

You can read the Dabney vs. Reagan decision here.

ORDERED, that defendants Reagan, Pierce, Edwards, Regan, Block, Baldridge, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development be, and the same hereby are, directed to expedite all Bank implementation activities, and to make those funds appropriated for Bank use for FY 1982 available for disbursement to qualified applicants...

The decision worked, and the money was released, but note that grants for "active" solar systems were prohibited (i.e. solar panels) and the money was only allowed to be put to energy conservation measures (like more insulation).

The Solar Bank was only phased out in 1989, with the last projects closing in 1992.

...

I've written more about early solar power (and a solar plant in the 1910s) here.

Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1996: United States Postal Service, Executive Office of the President. (Page 237 discusses the roofing.)

HUD Appendix 30 to the Records Disposition Schedule, July 1995.

Martha Hamilton, "Solar Group Sues Reagan, Cabinet Members". The Washington Post. April 7, 1982.

Sandra Sugawara, "Solar Bank Update". The Washington Post. September 17, 1982.