The American clean power industry is thriving and making a significant contribution to the U.S. economy thanks to policies of the Biden-Harris administration, as well as the highly competitive prices and speed with which clean power systems and energy storage can be currently installed. But the industry is now facing an all-out assault from President Donald Trump.

His signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Trump signed into law on July 4, heavily targets the industry, which Trump has labeled the “green new scam.” The legislation eliminates a 30 percent tax credit for residential rooftop solar panels by the end of 2025, as well as those dedicated to utility-scale solar and wind, although plants that are already financed and approved by June 2026 — or that are operational by 2027 — can still qualify for the credits. (The credit for solar leasing companies will also last through 2027 and can be passed through to consumers.) The bill also eliminates tax credits for electric vehicles and chargers, as well as battery storage systems, geothermal heating, electric panel upgrades, energy audits and weatherization, all of which can lower consumer’s energy bills.

In a last minute move, however, Republicans struck a proposed excise tax on wind and solar projects if the materials included a percentage of minerals sourced from certain foreign countries. Experts say that, regardless of the excise tax reprieve and the included grandfather provisions, the clean energy industry will be badly hurt and consumers’ energy prices could rise by eight to 10 percent. 

The clean energy industry’s growth and hefty economic impacts are due in part to former president Joe Biden’s signature $1.2 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Act of 2021 and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which he signed into law the following year. The latter provided for $369 billion in clean energy and climate-related spending over 10 ten years to nurture renewable technologies, including EVs, energy-efficient appliances, rooftop solar panels and batteries, geothermal heating, heat pumps, industrial clean energy storage and biogas systems.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contained billions for the electrification of transportation and a rapid expansion of electric vehicle charging stations. Calling it a “landmark bill,” the League of Conservation Voters said it also makes it easier for everyday people to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on energy costs and transition to clean energy in their homes, vehicles, schools and businesses while reducing fossil-fuel emissions.

New cost-effective technologies — such as ultra-high performance bifacial solar panels, which are able to absorb light from both sides of the panel and deliver over 700 Watts per module with little output degradation over 30 years — have contributed to the industry’s positive economic impact. Solar power is now often cheaper than the operating costs, let alone the construction costs, of older coal plants which take years to build and permit, and there is at least a six-year wait for new combustion turbines used in gas-fired power plants. By contrast, solar plants can be built in six to 18 months. Of the new power capacity added to the grid in 2024, 96 percent was non-carbon based energy. 

The industry employs 3.5 million Americans. According to a new report from the American Clean Power Association (ACP), “Clean power manufacturing contributes $18 billion to GDP [Gross Domestic Product] annually,” creates $33 billion in investment “and supports 122,000 American jobs” with an average salary of $118,000 a year.

As a whole, the clean energy sector added 400,000 new jobs from 2020 to 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Had the industry remained unfettered, its manufacturing could have contributed $86 billion to the GDP annually and supported over 575,000 jobs by 2030, with those investments coming mainly in rural Republican areas.

Trump had the renewable energy industry in his sights from the first day of his new administration, when he signed an executive order proclaiming a national energy emergency — even though, under Biden, the U.S. produced more oil and natural gas than any other nation and was the world’s third-largest coal producer. The order was seen by many as fulfillment of Trump’s promise to strip away regulations on the fossil-fuel industry, from which he requested $1 billion in contributions to his 2024 presidential campaign. 

In his emergency declaration, Trump contended that all aspects of energy and critical minerals — leasing, development, production, transportation, refining and generation — “are all far too inadequate to meet our Nation’s needs.”

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Accusing the prior administration of “harmful and shortsighted policies” that allegedly created “inadequate energy supply” and high energy prices, the order declared those policies created “a national emergency” requiring swift, decisive action to avoid a dramatic future crisis “due to a high demand for energy and natural resources to power the next generation of technology,” presumably AI.

The U.S. does have an emergency, Dr. Daniel Kammen told Grist in the wake of Trump’s executive order. A distinguished professor of energy at the University of California at Berkeley and a former U.S. science envoy, he said it’s not one caused by energy scarcity but by the nation’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels and the relatively leisurely pace of its transition to clean energy, despite the global climate crisis.  

The emergency declaration also seeks to weaken enforcement of environmental regulations, including those covered by the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, and to eliminate regulations that might impede the construction of oil and gas pipelines and other fossil-fuel facilities. It omits any mention of providing clean, safe and sustainable energy.

The order was correct, however, in stating that the nation needs a reliable, diversified and affordable supply of energy — and in recognizing that AI technology is sharply increasing U.S. power needs.

In Memphis, Tenn., the xAI Colossus data center, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, uses inefficient and highly-polluting portable gas turbine generators, which are typically intended for short-term or emergency use, to meet much of the plant’s ongoing power demand. The data center currently consumes 300 megawatts of power, enough to power 100,000 homes, according to CNN, and is seen as a threat and a corporate polluter by many residents of Boxtown, a majority Black, low-income community. 

ACP Executive Director Jason Grumet, calling attention to “skyrocketing demand” for power in the U.S., said that “two Texas[es]” worth of new demand is being added to the grid every decade. “Our country deserves better than a Congress that plays ping pong with our economy and our security.” 

Eager to sway Congress in its favor, the industry now has in place a $40 million lobbying campaign to defend its interests. “We have to confront the uncomfortable reality that the greatest threat to reliable energy is an unreliable political system,” Grumet said. 

Powered by its strong economic fundamentals, the clean power industry seems unlikely to be crushed by the Trump administration’s hostile measures. Now that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has become law, the industry’s growth and financing will be severely diminished — and American families and businesses will be paying more for energy.