Less than three weeks later, President Trump has plunged the US clean energy industry into chaos and has had much of the economic damage that has hit Republican states and districts.
In its quest to eliminate climate-related funding, the Trump administration has frozen federal grants for everything from battery factories to electrical school buses, and has put an executive order that has halted federal approvals for wind and solar projects. It has been published.
Trump and Congressional Republicans are also working to abolish the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. This is projected to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into low-carbon energy technologies over the next decade through tax credits, loans and grants.
So far, the community that votes Republicans have benefited most from their laws. According to new data from Atlas Public Policy, private companies chasing the legal tax credits have announced plans to spend $165.8 billion to build factories that will manufacture solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and more. Research company. Approximately 80% of these investments are in the Republican Congressional district, where they are creating a generation of manufacturing booms.
The Inflation Reduction Act, along with a separate 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, provided tens of thousands of dollars in federally awarded grants to private companies, states, and nonprofit organizations. These are legally binding obligations that allow businesses to make investments, sign leases and hire workers, and we expect them to be reimbursed by the government.
Two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to end that freeze and release money from a program approved by Congress, but there is evidence that some agencies are still blocking the funds .
Uncertainty has delayed projects and stopped investing in areas where Trump voted. In Montana, the biofuel plant failed to receive the $782 million payment on time, the first part of its $1.677 billion federal loan guarantee. Georgia has a $1 billion project on hold to modernize its power grid. In Nevada, a massive solar project of half a dozen federal land is caught up in a licensed freeze.
The upheaval puts Republicans in a difficult position to protect the White House, which views money for clean energy as a “waste of taxpayers' dollars,” working behind the scenes to protect the town from the loss of new manufacturing. It's there.
“This is where we get a test of whether the Republicans are the real political parties that serve their members or serve the character cult,” says the Blue Green Alliance, a coalition of trade unions and environmental advocacy groups. said Jason Walsh, executive director of the company.
“We hope that thousands of people will be fired, workers will be given up, and construction projects will be suspended,” Walsh said.
Political turmoil could put planned manufacturing projects at risk, analysts said. According to a new report from Bloombergnefefted, more than half of clean technology factories that are scheduled to be online online in 2025, and more than half of clean technology factories that are scheduled to be online online in 2025 are expected to face delays or cancellations. It's there. , research company.
It's not just for Trump. Some factories were already struggling with lower than expected demand for electric vehicles, rising costs, or foreign competition.
However, many manufacturers now face “significant political uncertainty” on top of that, as they wonder whether the Trump administration will abolish or amend federal lending and tax incentives. said Antoine Vagneu Jones, head of trade and supply chain at Bloomberniff.
“It would be difficult, even at the best, to bring much of this manufacturing back to the US,” Vagneur-Jones said. “To pull this off, you need a huge amount of political resolve and policy clarity, and when it's lacking, things start to get really troubling.”
The Environmental Protection Agency has said that despite recent court orders, programs funded through the Inflation Reduction Act remained suspended, according to an internal email. This included grants to states to reduce air pollution at ports and schools, monitoring pollution levels in neighbouring industrial facilities, and installing solar panels in low-income communities. And in the energy sector, employees said money for various grants and awards is still frozen.
The Home Office says it has suspended and reviewed solar and wind projects on public lands and waters for at least 60 days. The Army Corps of Engineers suspended permits for 168 renewable energy projects last week. That suspension was lifted Thursday, but it wasn't a wind power project, said Doug Garman, an agency spokesman.
The White House declined to comment. Neither the EPA nor the Department of Energy responded to requests that explain why the legally binding contract was suspended despite the judge's order.
Uncertainty about whether Republicans will abolish key clean energy incentives to pay Trump's tax cuts and immigration policies has also been straining investors.
In the Midwest, a Canadian solar generator called Helien, which already has one factory in Minnesota, has cited the possibility that Congress could amend a major manufacturing tax credit, and has a large solar plant in the area. We decided to decide whether to build.
In the northeast, offshore wind companies are pulling back plans for multi-billion dollar investments after Trump issued a massive executive order suspension approval for marine turbines. New Jersey on Monday waived plans to award a new offshore wind contract after Shell withdrew from its most promising project.
Many planned offshore wind farms are located in democratically led states such as New York and Massachusetts, but the project itself includes steel mills, shipbuilders and other manufacturers in 40 states, including Ohio, Louisiana and Texas. It supports a $25 billion supply chain, including. A report from Oceanic Network, a nonprofit group representing the offshore wind industry and its suppliers.
“When a large multi-billion dollar project doesn't move forward, there's a huge number of downstream investments that will be affected,” said Stephanie Francoeur, a spokeswoman for Ocentic.
The freeze was placed in an unusual position where Democrats argue that money continues to flow to their political rivals.
“It's illegal and we're not going to support it,” said President Kathy Caster, a Florida Democrat. “We'll fight back to make sure these dollars get to where they are supposed to go.”
Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act by party and party votes to combat climate change. But much of the economic benefits have often flowed into Republican districts with more available land, skilled manufacturing labor and a more accessible permitting process. The Biden administration also strategically directed grants to Republican states, hoping to make the law more durable.
However, Republicans whose district currently owns a project in the Chopping Block have refrained from publicly criticizing Trump's actions.
“We're a great place to go,” said Michael Luri, an Ohio Republican. Create a new job for 650. “That's going to take a little time.”
Some support Trump's spending freeze. Georgia Republican Rick Allen represents a district that has received $1.6 billion in private investment since the law passed, with one company offering equipment to reduce electricity risks. It has received $670.6 million in loans from the energy sector. Vehicle fire. Asked about the spending freeze, Allen claimed without evidence that the Biden administration had inappropriately spent money.
“What we want to do is know where the money is heading, how the grants were applied, and whether they were legally applied,” Allen said. “When applying for a grant, don't you think it should be a legitimate application?”
On Wednesday, more than 160 solar energy executives met with Republican and Democrat lawmakers to pitch them on the economic benefits of maintaining federal tax credits for solar projects and the factories that produce them.
“We had a very receptive hearing on the Republican side,” said Abigail Hopper, chief executive of the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group. “We talked about how electricity demand is growing. We need more energy for energy security and national security. Solar and storage are the fastest resources we can develop. It's one.”
Other companies want to convince the administration that their projects fit one of Trump's goals: “energy control.”
Use Kore Power, a battery cell developer. During the Biden administration, the company gained a conditional commitment to a $850 million loan from the energy sector, building a factory in Arizona and was able to produce lithium-ion cells for batteries in the electric grid. Batteries help store electricity when power rises rapidly, and sometimes reduce the need to burn natural gas.
However, the loan was not finalized before Trump took office, and this month the company cancelled plans for the Arizona plant, citing rising construction costs.
Kore Power CEO Jay Bellows said the company will instead seek to expand battery production elsewhere in the country by remodeling old factories. The company hopes to complete a loan with the Trump administration, but it will have to renegotiate terms.
“Even if we keep our mindset away from renewable energy, we'll still need energy storage in the grid,” Bellows said. “And we're a US company with US products, right? I think this is perfectly in line with what this administration is trying to achieve.”
Behind the scenes, energy lobbyists said Republican lawmakers are aware of the damage that a halt to clean energy investment could bring to their homeland.
“We've met dozens of major Republican offices and we can say no one wants to kill work,” says the executive director of E2, a nonpartisan group of business leaders and investors. said Bob Keefe. “They don't have to go back and face constituents and tell them that the factory they just cut the ribbon may not be here. It will put them in a difficult place.”
