Trump's War on Renewables Threatens AI Power Demands and Energy Affordability

Donald Trump's attacks on renewables sector quash nearly $19bn worth of projects

Donald Trump's attacks on renewable energy have thrown the sector into chaos, prompting industry concerns that the US will struggle to meet surging demand to power the artificial intelligence revolution. Clean energy projects worth $18.6bn have been cancelled this year, compared with just $827mn in 2024, according to Atlas Public Policy's Clean Economy Tracker. Investment announcements fell by nearly 20 per cent to $15.8bn this year, compared to $20.9bn in the same period in 2024. Since retaking office in January, the US president has axed renewable energy tax credits, grants and loans provided by the Biden administration. He has also made it harder to obtain authorisations for wind and solar projects and placed restrictions on companies whose supply chains are dominated by China. Industry watchers say that while demand for energy to power the AI boom will only grow, the US risks irrevocably damaging its renewables sector, which is often the cheapest and fastest source of energy to deploy. "Renewables can be built and connected in a matter of a year or two, in a way that meets data centre developers' timelines," said Advait Arun, an energy policy analyst at the Center for Public Interest. "If you're ignoring renewables, then you're missing a key part of the equation." There have been a wave of renewable energy company bankruptcies amid the cuts. Eleven groups have filed for bankruptcy since the start of the year, according to BankruptcyData, a data aggregator. When wind turbine blade manufacturer TPI Composites filed for bankruptcy on August 11, chief executive William Siwek wrote in filings that the "executive administration of the United States is making a substantial effort to phase out meaningful renewable energy subsidies". A spokesperson from the Department of Energy said that it was "leveraging all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable and secure to ensure the United States is able to win the AI race and reindustrialise". Yet developers are now in a race to break ground on projects that depend on tax credits to be economically viable before the subsidies wind down. The Treasury released stricter rules on August 15 to determine which projects can use tax credits until 2030. The updated guidance requires that projects start physical work such as installing solar racks or building access roads by July 2026. Residential solar has been particularly affected by tax credit cuts -- its incentive will end completely later this year. Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said that the policy changes could reduce residential installations by up to 46 per cent through to the end of 2030. According to Aurora Solar chief executive Chris Hopper, tax credit cuts in Trump's "big, beautiful bill" could cause flight from his corner of the industry. "We're going to lose progress, with people leaving the industry and capital and confidence lost," Hopper said. At the state level, more than a third of bills discussed this year on renewable technologies sought to make deployment more difficult, according to data shared exclusively with the FT by Clean Tomorrow, a pro-renewables advocacy group. However, only 5 per cent of the restrictive bills were enacted, due to partisan deadlock and local support for renewables. Utility-scale companies are also facing mounting permitting restrictions and project interference, which has caused delays and driven up costs. In recent weeks interior secretary Doug Burgum announced that wind and solar projects would "undergo elevated review" by his office, which is also investigating eagle deaths caused by wind turbines. In January Trump paused offshore wind and solar leasing on federal lands. But the new announcement could affect projects on private land if they intersect with or share infrastructure with public lands. BloombergNEF predicts that onshore wind additions by 2030 will total 30 gigawatts, down 50 per cent from its base case before the Trump bill. Satellite data from Kayrros, an environmental intelligence company, shows that daily utility solar installations have fallen 44 per cent since Trump was elected. The disruption represents real financial risk to companies. Danish developer Ørsted said this week that the "perceived" risk to the sector had made it impossible to sell or finance its Sunrise Wind project, prompting it to raise $9.4bn in a rights issue. "Without the certainty of permits, it's really hard to get financing and build a project," said Avantus chief executive Cliff Graham. "A lot of banks are concerned because they have a lot of money at risk on these projects." Energy secretary Chris Wright has criticised renewables for being intermittent sources of power, calling them "parasite[s] on the grid". His department has cut $3.7bn of grants, while a further $8.5bn worth of loans have been cancelled or remain at risk. Securing equipment has also been complicated by "foreign entity of concern" provisions in the bill, which penalises the use of materials from companies in adversarial countries. The US imported $13bn of solar cells in 2024 from China, as well as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia -- which have become manufacturing hubs for Chinese-owned companies. While battery storage companies have a longer runway to claim tax credits -- until 2036 -- than wind and solar, they were "not spared", said Rob Piconi, chief executive of battery company Energy Vault, since they are vulnerable to import rules due to Chinese dominance of their supply chain. BloombergNEF data suggests that battery storage additions will fall 7 per cent below expectations.

Trump declares war on clean energy. The numbers show it's the only thing keeping America's lights affordable

With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, President Donald Trump has lashed out at renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, blaming them for skyrocketing energy costs. Trump called wind and solar power "THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!" in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or "farmer destroying Solar" projects. "The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!" he wrote on his Truth Social site. Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change. The rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has fueled demand for energy-hungry data centers that need power to run servers, storage systems, networking equipment and cooling systems. Increased use of electric vehicles also has boosted demand, even as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans move to restrict tax credits and other incentives for EV purchases approved under the Biden administration. Natural gas prices, meanwhile, are rising sharply amid increased exports to Europe and other international customers. More than 40% of U.S. electricity is generated by natural gas. Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to lower Americans' electric bills by 50%. Democrats have been quick to blame him for the price hikes, citing actions to hamstring clean energy in the sprawling tax-and-spending cut bill approved last month, as well as regulations since then to further restrict wind and solar power. "Now more than ever, we need more energy, not less, to meet our increased energy demand and power our grid. Instead of increasing our energy supply Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to the clean energy sector, killing jobs and projects," said New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The GOP bill will cost thousands of jobs and impose higher energy costs nationwide, Heinrich and other critics said. A report from Energy Innovation, a non-partisan think tank, found the GOP tax law will increase the average family's energy bill by $130 annually by 2030. "By quickly phasing out technology-neutral clean energy tax credits and adding complex material sourcing requirements," the tax law will "significantly hamper the development of domestic electricity generation capacity," the report said. "The real scam is blaming solar for fossil fuel price spikes," the Solar Energy Industries Association said in response to Trump's post. "Farmers, families, and businesses choose solar to save money, preserve land, and escape high costs of the old, dirty fuels being forced on them by this administration," the group added. As technology improves, wind and solar offer some of the cheapest and fastest ways to provide electric power. More than 90% of new energy capacity that came online in the U.S. in 2024 was clean energy, said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, another industry group. States with the highest share of clean energy production have seen prices decline in the past year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, while prices have gone up in states with the least renewable energy use. "By slowing clean energy deployment, the Trump administration is directly fueling cost increases," Grumet said "Blocking cheap, clean energy while doubling down on outdated fossil fuels makes no economic or environmental sense," added Ted Kelly, director of U.S. clean energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group. Energy Secretary Chris Wright blamed rising prices on "momentum" from Biden-era policies that backed renewable power over fossil fuel sources such as oil, coal and natural gas. "That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who's going to get blamed for it? We're going to get blamed because we're in office," Wright told POLITICO during a visit to Iowa last week. About 60 percent of the state's electricity comes from wind. Not all the pushback comes from Democrats. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who backs wind power, has placed a hold on three Treasury nominees to ensure wind and solar have "an appropriate glidepath for the orderly phase-out of the tax credits" approved in the 2022 climate law under former President Joe Biden. Grassley said he was encouraged by new Treasury guidance that limits tax credits for wind and solar projects but does not eliminate them. The guidance "seems to offer a viable path forward for the wind and solar industries to continue to meet increased energy demand," Grassley said in a statement. John Quigley, senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, said the Republican tax law will increase U.S. power bills by slowing construction of solar, wind, and battery projects and could eliminate as many as 45,000 jobs by 2030. Trump administration polices that emphasize fossil fuels are "an extremely backward force in this conversation," Quigley said. "Besides ceding the clean energy future to other nations, we are paying for fossil foolishness with more than money -- with our health and with our safety. And our children will pay an even higher price."

Trump vows US ban on wind and solar projects as energy bills soar:...

President Donald Trump declared war on renewable energy Tuesday, vowing the federal government will block new wind and solar projects while electricity bills across America skyrocket at twice the rate of inflation. "Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA". The fiery proclamation comes as American households face brutal electricity price hikes. So far this year, electricity prices have risen between 5% and 9% -- with some states and metro areas facing even higher increases. Maine residents saw bills explode 36.3% higher, while Connecticut ratepayers absorbed an 18.4% spike and Utah families faced a 15.2% increases. The Energy Information Administration forecasts electricity prices will climb 13% from 2022 to 2025 -- the fastest pace in decades. The average American household's annual bill is expected to rise by about $219 in 2025 versus 2022, to around $1,900/year. Surging electricity demand from AI and data centers is a key driver behind soaring bills, along with aging grid infrastructure that utilities are modernizing and passing costs to consumers. Rising natural gas prices -- used for power generation -- add more upward pressure on rates. Trump's renewable energy crackdown has already delivered devastating blows to the industry. On July 4, he signed into law the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that kills the popular 30% federal solar tax credit for homeowners. The newly enacted law gives Americans just months to install residential solar systems before losing thousands in tax breaks. His administration also froze the $7 billion Solar for All program, a Biden-era initiative that sought to make solar power accessible to low-income Americans. Trump also slammed the brakes on new wind and solar permits on federal land. Offshore wind leasing got the axe entirely. Trump's Commerce Department escalated the renewable energy offensive in August by extending and increasing tariffs on wind turbines and components. Wind turbines now face a punishing 50% tariff rate across 407 new categories. The administration has also imposed strict new permitting requirements for wind farms, causing delays, permit freezes and outright project cancellations. High-profile casualties include Idaho's Lava Ridge Wind Project and New Jersey's Atlantic Shores development. Projects that already received approval can still be reviewed or revoked under the new rules. Trump consistently brands wind and solar as "expensive" and "unreliable," arguing government subsidies burden taxpayers and drive up energy costs. But the renewable energy industry warns these policy reversals threaten thousands of jobs and could slow clean energy growth just as demand explodes from data centers, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.