Trump’s Attack on Wind, Solar Cuts Deeper Than Industry Expected

President Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on wind and solar power from the rhetorical to the tangible, mounting a rapid-fire campaign that exceeds the industries’ worst fears.

In just the past few weeks, the Trump administration instituted permitting reviews that threaten US wind and solar developments. It imposed standards that would essentially prevent new developments on federal land. It rescinded Biden-era decisions earmarking coastal waters for future wind turbines. And on Wednesday it yanked approval for a massive planned wind farm in Idaho.

The pace and range of strikes against renewables — alongside several other actions that serve to prop up fossil fuels and nuclear power — have whipsawed wind and solar developers that had grown accustomed to federal support. The policies have already helped contribute to the cancellation or delay of more than $22 billion worth of clean energy projects since January and the loss of thousands of jobs, a majority in Republican states, according to an analysis from the E2 advocacy group.

The actions have struck deeper than even some hardened industry players and observers anticipated — mirroring Trump’s more aggressive approach on an array of fronts during his second term. Timothy Fox, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, once believed the incoming administration might merely refocus government efforts to prioritize power from coal and gas instead of taking aim at renewables.

But that “refocus” path is now in the rearview. Instead, Fox said, “we’re in the retaliate scenario.”

Trump has repeatedly called green energy a “scam” while also touting his focus on “energy dominance” by relying on domestic sources of oil, natural gas and coal. Beyond the words, the actual crackdown on wind and solar comes at a precarious time in the US. Electricity demand is rising quickly because of data centers and climbing use of artificial intelligence, contributing to bigger bills for Americans still stung by broader inflation. Meantime, there’s a backlog in natural-gas turbines and new nuclear power is many years away. Some studies predict the attacks on renewables will shrink potential power generation and lead to higher energy costs.

Trump administration officials say the moves are justified to ensure the US has an abundance of always-on power sources. Previous presidents gave too much preferential treatment to wind and solar ventures, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in announcing one policy shift. “Leveling the playing field in permitting supports energy development that’s reliable, affordable and built to last,” Burgum said.

The broadside against renewables began on Trump’s first day in office, when he froze offshore wind permitting. He’s moved to quickly reverse former President Joe Biden’s climate agenda and the Republican-majority Congress surprised even some GOP onlookers when it phased out tax incentives for wind and solar projects.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The Transportation Department in July recommended a minimum set-back requirement for wind turbines that would require them to be, at a minimum, 1.2 miles (1.93 km) away from highways and railroads. The agency also said the Federal Aviation Administration would “thoroughly evaluate” proposed turbines to ensure they do not pose a danger to aviation. Concerns about turbines interfering with military flights have cropped up in previous administrations’ evaluations of offshore wind leasing.

The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, has proposed rescinding the endangerment finding, a determination that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare, indicating the lengths it will go to in order to prop up fossil fuels at the expense of solar and wind.

Billions of dollars’ worth of new factories and clean energy projects have been canceled, delayed or scaled back since the start of the year, with $11.7 billion of investments located in GOP districts as of June, according to E2. More than 16,500 jobs have been lost, with nearly 12,000 of them in Republican districts, the analysis finds.

The French energy company Engie says it’s on track to invest less than half its usual $2 billion to $3 billion in the US this year.

The industry had expected a slowdown, including a leasing pause on federal land and that newly proposed projects wouldn’t proceed, an energy company executive told Bloomberg earlier this year. But the scale of disruption, especially moves against fully permitted wind projects, took developers aback, said the executive who asked not to be named in order to speak more candidly.

For some businesses, the best strategy is to keep your head down and hope projects can wait out the next three and a half years, another energy industry executive told Bloomberg. Even so, the executive added, that keeps capital locked up and forfeits opportunities for other investment in the meantime.

“The proposed federal interference with private economic activity is unprecedented,” said the American Clean Power Association, a trade group for utility-scale wind and solar developers. The policies have created “a troubling challenge for critical infrastructure investment of any kind.”

Much of the administration’s assault on wind and solar power has run through the Interior Department, which has authority over hundreds of millions of acres of federal land and water, and is currently home to 4% of US renewable energy generation. That figure was projected to increase to as much as 12.5% by 2035, according to a January Energy Department report.

The Interior Department announced Thursday it was launching a full review of offshore wind energy regulations, including a rule finalized by the Biden administration that created a renewable energy leasing schedule and reduced restrictions on developers.

Burgum issued a directive that requires him to personally sign off on 69 separate approvals for wind and solar projects on federal land. The move effectively serves to mire projects in red tape, requiring his review of thousands of documents, according to the American Clean Power Association.

However, industry experts say the new federal policy is also likely to block projects built on private land too because often there is a nexus between those projects and the agency, especially in the West where the federal government owns nearly half the land.

“It will have a far reach,” said Eric B. Beightel, who formerly served as executive director of the Federal Permitting Council during the Biden administration. “I do think the impacts will stretch beyond just the federal land.”

The Interior Department now considers energy capacity density as a key factor in evaluating energy proposals on public lands and waters, the agency told Bloomberg. Each project is reviewed on a case-by-case basis it said.

“Just because some want to frame this as playing politics doesn’t make it true. Evaluating land use efficiency and environmental impact isn’t partisan, it’s responsible governance,” an Interior spokesperson said.

Despite all the new hurdles, big clean energy developers are trying to show investors they can survive the tumult. NextEra Energy Inc. and AES Corp. both said during recent earnings calls that they believe most of their projects have locked in tax incentives.

“I think it will be more difficult for the smaller, less capitalized developers in this environment,” AES Chief Executive Officer Andres Gluski said on an investor call.