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  "description": "Donald Trump's return brought stiff headwinds for clean energy.",
  "path": "/why-are-wind-solar-and-nuclear-advocates-so-optimistic-in-2026/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-12-22T18:43:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "worked to boost polluting fuels",
    "wind and solar",
    "skyrocketing demand for electricity to power data centers",
    "Trump often made headlines criticizing renewable energy",
    "Republicans muscled a tax and spending cut bill through Congress in July",
    "Join the Breakfast Club for $590/year and receive your personal copy!",
    "The federal government canceled grants",
    "Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill in 2022",
    "Fossil fuels also receive subsidies",
    "loaning $1 billion",
    "stopped construction on major offshore wind farms",
    "paused permitting",
    "canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters",
    "federal funding",
    "the world is transitioning to cleaner energy"
  ],
  "textContent": "There were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President **Donald Trump** worked to boost polluting fuels while blocking wind and solar, according to dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians.\n\nSurveyed by The Associated Press, many described 2025 as turbulent and challenging for clean energy, though there was progress as projects connected to the electric grid. They said clean energy must continue to grow to meet skyrocketing demand for electricity to power data centers and to lower Americans' utility bills.\n\nSolar builder and operator **Jorge Vargas** said it has been “a very tough year for clean energy” as Trump often made headlines criticizing renewable energy and Republicans muscled a tax and spending cut bill through Congress in July that dramatically rolled back tax breaks for clean energy.\n\n_****Become a Breakfast Club Member to read the 12 Days of Broadband!****_\n\n\n                            Join the Breakfast Club for $590/year and receive your personal copy!\n                        \n\n“There was a cooldown effect this year,” said Vargas, cofounder and CEO of Aspen Power. “Having said that, we are a resilient industry.”\n\nPlug Power president **Jose Luis Crespo** said the developments — both policy recalibration and technological progress — will shape clean energy’s trajectory for years to come.\n\n### _Energy policy whiplash in 2025_\n\nMuch of clean energy's fate in 2025 was driven by booster Joe Biden's exit from the White House.\n\nThe year began with ample federal subsidies for clean energy technologies, a growing number of U.S.-based companies making parts and materials for projects and a lot of demand from states and corporations, said **Tom Harper** , partner at global consultant Baringa.\n\nIt ends with subsidies stripped back, a weakened supply chain, higher costs from tariffs and some customers questioning their commitment to clean energy, Harper said. He described the year as “paradigm shifting.”\n\nTrump called wind and solar power “the scam of the century” and vowed not to approve new projects. The federal government canceled grants for hundreds of projects.\n\nThe Republicans’ tax bill reversed or steeply curtailed clean energy programs established through the Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill in 2022. **Wayne Winegarden** , at the Pacific Research Institute think tank, said the time has come for alternative energy to demonstrate viability without subsidies. ( Fossil fuels also receive subsidies.)\n\nMany energy executives said this was the most consequential policy shift. The bill reshaped the economics of clean energy projects, drove a rush to start construction before incentives expire and forced developers to reassess their strategies for acquiring parts and materials, **Lennart Hinrichs** said. He leads the expansion of TWAICE in the Americas, providing analytics software for battery energy storage systems.\n\nCompanies can't make billion-dollar investments with so much policy uncertainty, said American Clean Power Association CEO **Jason Grumet**.\n\nConsequently, greenhouse gas emissions will fall at a much lower rate than previously projected in the U.S., said Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Duke University.\n\n### _Still, solar and battery storage are booming_\n\nSolar and storage accounted for 85% of the new power added to the grid in the first nine months of the Trump administration, according to Wood Mackenzie research.\n\nThat's because the economics remain strong, demand is high and the technologies can be deployed quickly, said **Mike Hall** , CEO of Anza Renewables.\n\nSolar energy company Sol Systems said it had a record year as it brought its largest utility-scale project online and grew its business. The energy storage systems company CMBlu Energy said storage clearly stands out as a winner this year too, moving from optional to essential.\n\n“Trump’s effort to manipulate government regulation to harm clean energy just isn’t enough to offset the natural advantages that clean energy has,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. \"The direction is still all good.”\n\nThe Solar Energy Industries Association said that no matter the policies in Washington, solar and storage will grow as the backbone of the nation's energy future.\n\n### _Nuclear and geothermal had a good year, too_\n\nDemocrats and Republicans have supported investing to keep nuclear reactors online, restart previously closed reactors and deploy new, advanced reactor designs. Nuclear power is a carbon-free source of electricity, though not typically labeled as green energy like other renewables.\n\n“Who had ‘restart Three Mile Island’ on their 2025 Bingo card?” questioned Baringa partner **David Shepheard**. The Pennsylvania plant was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, in 1979. The Energy Department is loaning $1 billion to help finance a restart.\n\nEveryone loves nuclear, said **Darrin Kayser** , executive vice president at Edelman. It helps that the technology for small, modular reactors is starting to come to fruition, Kayser added.\n\n**Benton Arnett** , a senior director at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that as the need for clean, reliable power intensifies, “we will look back on the actions being taken now as laying the foundation.\"\n\nThe Trump administration also supports geothermal energy, and the tax bill largely preserved geothermal tax credits. The Geothermal Rising association said technologies continue to mature and produce, making 2025 a breakthrough year.\n\n### _Offshore wind had a terrible year_\n\nMomentum for offshore wind in the United States came to a grinding halt just as the industry was starting to gain traction, said **Joey Lange** , a senior managing director at Trio, a global sustainability and energy advisory company.\n\nThe Trump administration stopped construction on major offshore wind farms, revoked wind energy permits and paused permitting, canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopped federal funding for offshore wind projects.\n\nThat has decimated the projects, developers and tech innovators, and no one in wind is raising or spending capital, said **Eric Fischgrund** , founder and CEO at FischTank PR. Still, Fischgrund said he remains optimistic because the world is transitioning to cleaner energy.\n\n### _More clean energy needed in 2026_\n\nAn energy strategy with a diverse mix of sources is the only way forward as demand grows from data centers and other sources, and as people demand affordable, reliable electricity, said former Democratic Sen. **Mary Landrieu**. Landrieu, now with Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, said promoting or punishing specific energy technologies on ideological grounds is unsustainable.\n\nExperts expect solar and battery storage to continue growing in 2026 to add a lot of power to the grid quickly and cheaply. The market will continue to ensure that most new electricity is renewable, said **Amanda Levin** , policy analysis director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.\n\n**Hillary Bright** , executive director of Turn Forward, thinks offshore wind will still play an important role too. It is both ready and needed to help address the demand for electricity in the new year, which will become increasingly clear \"to all audiences,” she said. Turn Forward advocates for offshore wind.\n\nThat skyrocketing demand \"is shaking up the political calculus that drove the administration’s early policy decisions around renewables,” she said.\n\nBlueWave CEO **Sean Finnerty** thinks that states, feeling the pressure to deliver affordable, reliable electricity, will increasingly drive clean energy momentum in 2026 by streamlining permitting and the process of connecting to the grid, and by reducing costs for things like permits and fees.\n\n**Ed Gunn** , Lunar Energy's vice president for revenue, said the industry has weathered tough years before.\n\n“The fundamentals are unchanged,\" Gunn said, \"there is massive value in clean energy.”\n\n _This article was written by Jennifer McDermott of the Associated Press._",
  "title": "Why Are Wind, Solar and Nuclear Advocates So Optimistic in 2026?",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-21T21:53:07.386Z"
}