President Donald Trump and his subordinates have done everything in their power to slam the brakes on renewable energy development — but despite it all, the industry is booming, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Trump has long been known to have a personal hatred for renewables, allegedly ever since a wind farm in Scotland altered the view from one of his golf properties — and he frequently rants against the industry, often making wildly exaggerated claims about its storage limitations or the threat it poses to wildlife.
The president signed a massive, controversial tax cut megabill earlier this year that, among other things, phases out most tax credits for renewable energy installation at the federal level. However, reported Rebecca Elliott, this may not start affecting the growth of the industry for years, "because companies are racing to install solar panels, wind turbines and batteries the size of shipping containers before federal tax credits expire or become harder to claim."
In fact, the rush to take advantage of the tax credits as they sunset is so tremendous "that analysts widely expect the United States to add record — or near-record — amounts of renewable energy and batteries through 2027" — with the research firm BloombergNEF revising up their forecast for new wind, solar, and battery installations in 2026 by 10 percent.
"Wind and solar projects must be under construction by July to be eligible for federal tax credits that Congress voted this summer to eliminate, years earlier than previously required," the report continued. "To hit that deadline, many developers have ordered custom power transformers — devices used to increase or decrease voltage — solar panels and other equipment much sooner than they normally would have. Placing such orders is one way to demonstrate to the Internal Revenue Service that a project is underway."
CleanCapital director Thomas Byrne told The Times, “There’s this huge hurry-up that is taking place.”
However, ending tax credits is not the only way the Trump administration has sought to scale back wind and solar projects; the administration. His agencies are also ordering burdensome regulatory reviews of utility-scale projects on public and even private land. The administration has moved to axe a solar megaproject in Nevada, as well as an offshore wind project in New England that is 80 percent complete — although a Republican-appointed federal judge recently blocked the latter order, allowing that project to continue.