Record US Clean Energy Build Defies Federal Opposition

The United States is on course to add a record 45 gigawatts of clean energy capacity this year — roughly a quarter more than the previous high, set in 2024 — even as the Trump administration pursues an aggressive campaign to curtail new projects and reverse decarbonization policy.

The federal government has been especially hostile toward offshore wind. When courts overturned its initial project bans, the administration shifted to financial pressure, agreeing to pay nearly $4 billion to several offshore wind developers to relinquish their lease agreements. The largest settlement — $1.22 billion — went to Germany’s RWE, covering offshore zones off California, New York, and Louisiana. The government is directing the funds freed by these deals toward fossil-fuel development.

Market fundamentals have proven stronger than federal resistance. Surging demand from data centres, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and the mass electrification of transport is driving appetite for new generation capacity. S&P Global Energy projects that new US solar installations will grow by nearly a third this year, while wind additions will rise by close to 50 percent compared with last year. Research firm ICF estimates that national electricity consumption will be 39 percent higher by 2035 than in the previous year — a gap that global growth in renewable capacity and storage systems is moving to cover.

Expiring Inflation Reduction Act incentives are compounding the rush. Clean energy tax credits are phasing out this year and next; Balkan Green Energy News has reported that electricity prices could climb 40 to 120 percent once those subsidies end. Developers are pressing to bring projects online before the support window closes, a deadline-driven urgency that is accelerating construction further still.

Source: Balkan Green Energy News