At Aurora Energy Research’s NYC forum this week, analyst Julia Hoos said the quiet part out loud: Once the effects of solar and wind tax credits being phased out take hold and the renewable building boom stalls, “there is a real fear that [the renewable energy industry is] standing in front of a cliff in about 2028 or 2030.”

President Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act “has reversed the momentum that the Inflation Reduction Act injected into the energy transition,” Hoos, the head of USA East research at Aurora, told the audience on Tuesday. “But we also have to contextualize that we’re starting from a place of momentum like we’ve never had before.”

Thus, her prediction is that renewables will continue to be built in the US and that “those projects are going to benefit from higher revenues that can offset their higher costs.” But the most successful renewable projects will be strategic in their placement and benefit to the grid.

“Profitability is going to be less of a given,” Hoos said. “That increases the importance of understanding how much additional renewables or batteries a particular market can absorb.”

Batteries and VPPs can help particular markets make and use extra clean power, but once a location is saturated with renewables and storage, Hoos suggested investors need to “pivot geographies and technologies.”

“Batteries are exceptionally well-positioned over the next couple of years to take advantage of the new opportunities from load growth,” Hoos said. “However, the economics do change. Given how long it takes to build projects in the US right now, successful investment means speeding to where the puck is going and preparing for the aftermath.”

Hoos said renewables will go from something that’s inexpensive to build and can aid in any power market to a specific asset that can boost the efficacy of markets with specific conditions.

“Opportunities are going to be there on the other side,” she said. “We just have to know where to find them.”