By Nichola Groom
July 24 (Reuters)
Donald Trump again with another change in the renewable sector. The promise of fresh ideas causes industries to grow and fall every few decades. They have the power to transform entire communities at times by generating new jobs, giving rural areas optimism, and providing incentives for young people to stay rather than leave. Clean, renewable energy has been one such promise in recent years. Rows of solar panels absorbing the sun and wind turbines spinning on desolate plains have come to represent a future that many people believed would be more affordable, cleaner, and better for the environment.
With subsidies drying up, major green energy projects face uncertainty, a new thing since Trump arrived
Singapore-based solar panel manufacturer Bila Solar is suspending plans to double capacity at its new factory in Indianapolis. Canadian rival Heliene’s plans for a solar cell facility in Minnesota are under review. Norwegian solar wafer maker NorSun is evaluating whether to move forward with a planned factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And two fully permitted offshore wind farms in the U.S. Northeast may never get built.
These are among the major clean energy investments now in question after Republicans agreed earlier this month to quickly end U.S. subsidies for solar and wind power as part of their budget megabill, and as the White House directed agencies to tighten the rules on who can claim the incentives that remain. This marks a policy U-turn since President Donald Trump’s return to office.
Renewable energy is at risk
Solar and wind installations could be 17% and 20% lower than previously forecast over the next decade because of the moves, according to research firm Wood Mackenzie, which warned that a dearth of new supplies could slow the expansion of data centres needed to support AI technology. Energy researcher Rhodium, meanwhile, said the law puts at risk $263 billion of wind, solar, and storage facilities and $110 billion
This is the announced manufacturing investment supporting them. It will also increase industrial energy costs by up to $11 billion in 2035, it said. Ben King, a director in Rhodium’s energy and climate practice, said that,
“One of the administration’s stated goals was to bring costs down, and as we demonstrated, this bill doesn’t do that is not a recipe for continued dominance of the U.S. AI industry.”
The Trump administration seems to be defending its decisions despite the cracks
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has defended its moves to end support for clean energy by arguing the rapid adoption of solar and wind power has created instability in the grid and raised consumer prices—assertions that are contested by the industry and that do not bear out in renewables-heavy power grids, like Texas’s ERCOT.
Power industry representatives, however, have said all new generation projects need to be encouraged to meet rising U.S. demand, including both those driven by renewables and fossil fuels. Consulting firm ICF projects that U.S. electricity demand will grow by 25% by 2030, driven by increased AI and cloud computing—a major challenge for the power industry after decades of stagnation.
The REPEAT Project, a collaboration between Princeton University and Evolved Energy Research, projects a 2% annual increase in electricity demand. With a restricted pipeline of renewables, tighter electricity supplies stemming from the policy shift could increase household electricity costs by $280 a year in 2035, according to the REPEAT Project. The fossil fuel industry has long benefited from government assistance, including tax advantages and the ability to drill on public lands, according to critics. They contend that removing support for renewables creates an unfair playing field.