Trump tried to curb clean energy. It’s booming anyway.
Ars Technica Martha Muir, Financial Times
Trump tried to slow solar and wind. Demand, data centers and tax-credit deadlines are pushing clean power to a record year anyway.
Based on reporting by Ars Technica, Martha Muir, Financial Times — read the original for the full story.
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Donald Trump set out to slow the buildout of solar and wind. Instead, the US is heading into an unexpected clean energy surge, pushed by the very thing the administration can’t wish away: rising demand for electricity.
S&P Global Energy expects clean energy additions to hit a record 45 gigawatts this year. That is about the average electricity demand of Turkey, and roughly 25 percent above the record set in 2024. For a sector that has spent years fighting for room on the grid, that is a serious amount of new capacity.
The pressure isn’t coming from one source. Analysts point to the war in Iran, which has helped lift global energy prices. They also point to the huge appetite of AI data centers, whose power needs are growing fast enough to change investment plans. And then there’s the deadline effect: developers are racing to capture tax credits before they expire.
Trump’s administration has tried to obstruct the solar and wind rollout, but it has also had to get practical about keeping the lights on. That tension is doing the clean energy sector an odd favor. The policy mood may be hostile, but the economics of electricity demand are not cooperating.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the usual Washington trick: declare war on a technology, then let the grid bill do the arguing. Clean energy doesn’t need applause from Trump; it just needs buyers, deadlines, and an electricity crunch. The market, annoyingly for the ideologues, still has a pulse.
Read more about this at: Ars Technica
