The government of US President Donald Trump has expressed support for an “all the above” approach to energy policy in the United States.
Until now, the administration has announced a number of actions to stimulate oil and natural gas and make cutbacks for incentives for clean energy sources. Although the Momentum Administration has injected into fossil fuels and has made a number of heavy strokes for the acceptance of EVs, wind energy and energy efficiency, solar energy is somewhere in the middle.
Under an executive order called “Let’s American energy‘The administration released restrictions on drilling and exploring rare earth minerals.
It also tried to put an end to the “mandate for electric vehicles” by terminating the exemptions of the state emissions that function to limit the sale of petrol -driven cars and by considering the elimination of “unfair subsidies and other poorly imposed by The government imposed market distortions “that prefer EVs over other technologies. There is no federal mandate for the acceptance of electric vehicles in the United States.
The executive order also called for lower standards for energy efficiency of devices that refer to consumer choice and market competition as motivations for this action.
In another executive promotion, Trump ordered a break about the sale of offshore wind energy sales in federal waters and breaks in approvals, permits and loans for both offshore and onshore wind.
Solar -Power
Solar energy Does neither the apple of Trump’s eye be, nor the target of his harshes. Regardless of the administration, it has been growing for decades. According to Trump’s first term, the industry grew by 128%, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Solar has now been added to the grid in the United States the most dominant source of new electricity generation. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), more than 64% of the new capacity that was added to the net in 2024 was on solar energy, followed by natural gas.
“Solar, now an industry of $ 60 billion, adds more new capacity to the American net than any other fuel source, amid the greatest increase in demand for electricity since the Second World War,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, President and Chief Executive Officer of SEIA.
Worldwide, it is expected that investments in clean energy will surpass investments for the first time in 2025 according to S&P Global. S&P said that investments in renewable electricity generation, green hydrogen and carbon collection and storage will achieve $ 670 billion in 2025Marking the first time that these investments set up the electric oil and gas editions.
“Solar PV is expected to represent half of all Cleantech investments and two-thirds of the installed Megawatt,” said Edurne Zoco, executive director of Clean Energy Technology at S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Cloudy PV
Despite the optimism for solar energy as a core of the forward energy mix, there are various emerging risks in the second Trump period.
The administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on tackling climate change. Combined with separate restrictions on the production of fossil fuels, this action can shake up the comparative appreciation between fossil fuels and solar energy, causing banks and lenders to recapture investments in the energy transition.
Moreover, there is a lot of uncertainty about the American inflation reduction ACT (IRA) of 2022, the largest climate and energy-resistant package in the country.
The executive action “unleashed American Energy” included an immediate termination of subsidies, loans and other financial mechanisms within the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Anticipating this promotion, the BIDEN administration has released tens of billions in loans in recent months, including $ 23 billion for utilitiesAnd experts say that these funds are legally dedicated and it is very unlikely that they will be withdrawn. This stopped on a new loan and subsidy finance, the growth of the industry will probably be delayed.
Accounting and consultancy Baker Tilly said that it “remains unclear” whether the break covers all potential financing, such as Direct wage provisions under the IRAOr if it applies exclusively to subsidies, loans and contracts that are administered at the federal level.
Another constant risk to the solar industry in general is the use of rates. It remains unclear which goods will be plagued and at what rate. The United States have a long two -part history of assessing rates for importing solar energy.
The rates are expected to increase the costs of goods and place a different obstacle for the solar industry because it competes with other energy sources. A potential advantage of rates is to create a more level playing field for American sun manufacturers to compete with cheap global suppliers.
Perhaps the most serious risk for industry is the potential withdrawal of the investment tax credit (ITC) within the IRA. Projects for solar and energy storage of all sizes are offered a tax credit for 30% of the installed system costs. BonusAdders are made available for projects with the help of components made by the US or located in low -income communities or communities that are economically affected by the energy transition.
Uncertainty about the fate of these tax credits has issued a cloud about industry, predictions and delayed investments. Industrial analysts have suggested that an outright termination of the ITC is unlikely, but that it will have a political will somewhere in the next two years, instead of in the 2030s. Roth Capital Partners said that ITC cutbacks can act as part of the budget consent of the administration, which would take place somewhere in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Until then, the clouds of uncertainty can continue to slow the solar investments for some time. As a technology that now supplies a level of electricity (LCOE). 56% cheaper than the weighted average fossil fuel LCOESolar now has a foothold that may be too strong to be sustained by political unrest.
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