Installation of renewable energy worldwide hit a record high last year, with more than 90 percent of all new electricity brought online coming from the sun, wind, or other clean sources. Given this, the Trump administration’s decision to exchange clean energy grants for funding of fossil fuel power development is both troubling and puzzling (“White House terminating two clean energy grants,” Business, March 29).

The limited availability of coal and natural gas resources requires states to import power from other states and countries at often exorbitant prices. The threat to states’ and localities’ power capacity is particularly pronounced without a focus on including renewable power sources to meet rapidly increasing demand. This demand includes running new data centers with enormous energy appetites.

US power producers haven’t opened a large coal-fired power plant since 2013, and there are no major plans to add more coal capacity in the future. Today, old fossil fuel plants are retiring faster than their power can be replaced with new generation of any kind, according to a 2024 report by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. The solution is to increase, not reduce, renewable power.