So far this year, clean tech firms have abandoned or scaled back close to $24 billion in new projects, from solar farms to battery plants to electric vehicle factories.
In total, businesses have scrapped 42 projects, up from 14 in all of 2024 and just nine in 2023, according to an analysis from E2, a group promoting clean energy.
The cancellations come as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress weaken federal support for clean energy. This summer, Republican lawmakers voted to scrap tax credits for solar, wind, EVs, and other clean technologies, a move that E2 executive director Bob Keefe said would “push businesses to take their factories and investments overseas.”
So far the losses have been felt most acutely in Republican strongholds. Project cancellations have cost the U.S. more than 20,000 clean energy jobs this year, according to E2, but almost 15,000 of those jobs would have been in Republican districts.
Democratic strongholds have not gone unscathed. The Trump administration is currently withholding federal funding for clean tech projects in these areas. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy announced it was canceling close to $8 billion in grants for companies based in states governed by Democrats. And last week, the Department of the Interior blocked a massive solar project, the largest in the U.S., that was planned for the Nevada desert.
The government broadsides against clean energy have hit offshore wind especially hard. While the industry had been poised to take off on the East Coast, with around 30 large wind farms planned, under President Trump, only seven of those projects are moving ahead or in operation.
In July, the administration moved to block new offshore wind farms on more than 3.5 million acres of U.S. waters. Meanwhile this week, a leaked document obtained by the Houston Chronicle showed the White House is planning to open large areas along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to offshore drilling.
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