Since taking office, the Trump administration has suspended permits on all new wind and solar projects on public lands, both on land and offshore.
The solar tax credit will no longer be
If you’re thinking about solar, you’ll actually need to pay higher from customs duties, and large tax credits are gone faster than planned.
Fox-26 Houston
New wind and solar installations, as well as the cheap, clean energy they provide to America, may not survive the Trump administration.
Based on public concern and his own dislike, the dislike for “ugh,” “nasty” wind turbines and “silly” solar farms has issued a blizzard of orders and executive orders that would limit new solar and wind projects in the county. In at least one case, the administration has sought permissions already issued.
Instead, the administration has promoted energy production from oil, natural gas and coal, making the Biden administration even more expensive through regulations Trump is currently dismantling.
“They are basically trying to make it impossible for them to build wind and solar in the country, or they’re repeating fossil fuel regulations at the same time,” said Nick Krakoff, a senior lawyer at the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation.
Wind and solar are two of the fastest growing energy sectors in the United States, producing 17% of electricity last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the Department of Energy Statistics Agency.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has suspended permits on all new wind and solar projects on public land, onshore and offshore.
The majority of renewable energy projects (95%) are on private property, according to a report by the Brookings Agency. But many of them require some type of federal approval and are stagnant by new rules as well.
What some people in the energy industry find particularly troubling is this push to end large-scale energy projects of private property.
“Every time there is a big change in administration, public land policies can change,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association. “But no one would expect this administration’s willingness to create political and bureaucratic barriers to private economic activity on private land.”
Shifts that began on January 20th
Dozens of new rules, mainly issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, add multiple layers of permitting requirements to an already thorough process.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you get a lot of money,” said Michelle Solomon, manager of the Power Program at Policy and Technology, San Francisco-based energy think tank.
The flooding of new regulations began on January 20th when the administration temporarily retracted all permits for offshore wind projects. On July 7th, federal grants for coal, oil and natural gas remained in place, but all grants for wind and solar projects ended.
On July 15, the Ministry of Home Affairs added multiple review layers to all wind and solar projects on public land, including the requirement that internal secretaries sign off for each.
It was not clear whether these requirements would stop new projects being allowed, but “at least it would slow down decisions — and many decisions are uncontroversial, they are routine,” Krakov said.
On July 29, the department had to federal review and cancel any wind or solar projects approved but sued by their opponents.
Half of the winds that complete the environmental impact statement and half of the wind projects that complete the environmental impact statement face lawsuits, according to a study by Future for The Future, a non-profit research institute based in Washington, D.C.
Targeting the renewable energy industry
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin said in March that the administration’s efforts “driving daggers at the heart of climate change religions.”
The new rules ensure that wind and solar projects will “have appropriate supervision if federal resources, permits or consultations are involved.”
The command is already effective. On August 6, the agency announced it would reverse the permit for the 1,000 megawatt wind facility approved in Idaho.
“They are cancelling meetings and deleting web pages,” said American Clean Power’s Gourmet, adding that they view the move as “an unprecedented effort to weaponize bureaucracy to undermine the American industry.”
In early August, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo complained to the Secretary of the Interior in a letter that solar power had been frozen deep inside the project pipeline.
“This is part of a pattern that targets the renewable energy industry,” says Krakov of the Conservation Law Foundation. “It’s pretty unprecedented to target the entire industry and undermine the rule of law.”
Electricity demand is rising at an all-time high
These actions could stop the cold, which was the biggest contributor to US power sources, at a time when global warming and the needs of artificial intelligence and data centers are being promoted.
“We need to build more electricity now, which includes renewables. The US will need around 118 gigawatts of new electricity generation (equivalent to 12 New York cities) over the next four years to prevent price spikes and potential shortages.”
As of last year, 17% of the US electricity was created by wind or solar power. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, of the new generation projected to be online this year, 93% was expected to come from solar, wind, or battery storage.
Solar power seems less affected by policy shifts than winds, Solomon said.
“It certainly appears that the administration is trying to do everything it can to slow the progress of the wind and sun, but they have no one-sided control over everything,” she said. “I think there’s a decent chance that private property has at least some solar power projects and a lot of projects that don’t have federal permit requirements.”
China overtakes the US with clean energy
This change will mark other parts of the world, particularly China, to make great strides in transitioning from wind and solar to cheaper forces.
“I don’t think the administration is totally grateful that if they tie their hands, we can retreat in a race with China,” Gourmet said.
China has installed wind and solar projects faster than any other country, and today it has almost half of the world’s wind farms. In 2023, we combined more wind and solar light than other parts of the world. In May, the solar power reached 1,000 gigawatts.
The current solar capacity in the United States is 134 gigawatts. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the 1 gigawatt solar facility generates enough electricity to support around 200,000 households.
In the first quarter of this year, China was able to produce more energy through wind and solar than through coal or gas. As of July, the country accounts for 74% of all wind and solar projects under construction worldwide.
China’s enormous accumulation of wind and solar power has resulted in a 2.7% drop in carbon emissions in the first six months of this year. Some experts believe that greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked.
With the success of electric vehicles, the country’s combination of clean energy production won the world’s first “static electricity” title. Fossil fuel-based countries are known as the “Petrostate.”
Julio Friedmann, a carbon, hydrogen and biofuel expert at Carbon Direct, a climate solution provider, said this is not a good thing for the future of the United States on the global stage.
“This action will likely strengthen China’s position as a global leader,” said Friedman, who also taught at Columbia University. “In the worst case, the US may abandon its many benefits.”
