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Good morning and happy Friday,
It’s been a frothy week in Washington as various House factions duked it out over President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which passed early Thursday morning in a squeaker of a vote after “considerable” changes, including even steeper restrictions on IRA tax incentives.
It now heads to the Senate, where further changes are expected when that body returns on June 2 after a week-long recess; GOP leaders hope to have the legislation ready for President Trump’s signature by July 4. For more details, check out this week’s Must Read.
ACP held its annual CLEANPOWER event in Phoenix this week, and released a new report on the significant domestic economic benefits of clean energy manufacturing, finding that it could contribute $86 billion to GDP annually and support over 575,000 American jobs by 2030.
On the other side of the coin, SEIA warned that torching the IRA would upend America’s energy boom, “jeopardize nearly 300,000 jobs,” and could sacrifice $770 billion in economic growth (and that was before further cuts were made).
And, “it’s official”: the U.S. International Trade Commission finalized tariffs on solar cells and panels from Southeast Asia, including a whopping 3500% on some imports from Cambodia. SEIA said the tariffs risk undermining the industry; for its part, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Committee said it was a “decisive victory for domestic producers.”
Read on for more.
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Down, but Not Out
We’re not going to sugarcoat it: the budget passed by the House is “worse than feared” for clean energy; if sustained, cuts to clean energy tax credits “amount to a hard shutdown of the IRA,” and shares of solar companies fell on Thursday. That said, it ain’t over yet, and observers and analysts “don’t expect [the deep cuts] to last into the Senate draft.” Here are some key points to know:
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As passed, the bill restricts ITC and PTC eligibility to projects that start construction within 60 days of the bill’s final passage and commence operations before 2029. Further, it speeds up material sourcing requirements such that clean power projects are prohibited from using anything made in China starting January 1 of 2026, creating an “impossibly short timeline.”
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A principal with Ernst & Young says the moved up deadlines will “strain the renewable energy development community and the supply chain,” and “trigger a scramble to undertake as much as possible in that 60-day window.”
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Reuters says the House bill “effectively kills the U.S. clean energy boom,” noting that it also nixes the transferability of tax credits for clean energy technologies, which had offered an important financial lifeline to some projects.
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SEIA issued a statement condemning the bill; CEO Abigail Hopper called the legislation “unworkable” and said the industry “is ready to get to work with the U.S. Senate on a more thoughtful and measured approach to unleashing true American energy dominance to create a brighter future for all Americans.”
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Clean energy supporters are wondering what happened to the holdouts, but “in the end, none of the House Republicans who had voiced concerns about ending energy tax credits were willing to go against party leadership.”
- Notably, although the IRA is considered landmark clean energy legislation, as clean energy supporters try to save it, they’re focusing their arguments on cold, hard cash.
⚡️ The Takeaway
Untold costs. In addition to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and millions in GDP resulting from gutting the IRA, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the budget could add trillions to the U.S. deficit. Further, Ethan Zindler, lead country and policy researcher at BloombergNEF, observed that "It's worth remembering that US power demand is now growing and renewables represent the cheapest, fastest way to add generation to the grid. So while some number of clean energy projects would get canceled as a result of this move, others would re-negotiate contracts with utilities or corporate offtakers. The result would inevitably be higher priced power in substantial parts of the U.S." The IRA incentives are in critical condition, and all eyes are on the Senate to revive them.
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Empire Strikes Back
As Beyoncé fans know, a winner don’t quit on themselves, and this week Equinor prevailed as administration officials reversed their position and lifted a stop-work order on the company’s Empire Wind 1 offshore project, allowing it to move forward. It’s been a bit of a saga – here are a handful of newsworthy milestones along the way:
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The $5 billion Empire Wind 1 project has been in the works for more than 8 years, but things got bumpy quick at the beginning of the year with President Trump’s January 20 executive order pausing offshore wind activity – although projects with permits in hand, like Empire Wind 1, appeared to be safe.
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Then on April 16, the administration issued a stop-work order for the project, and last week “Equinor said the situation would force the company to terminate the project entirely if the situation wasn’t resolved within days, as the stoppage cost around $50 million a week.”
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In response, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Equinor representatives have engaged in intensive lobbying that focused on the “thousands of jobs” the project would create, and ultimately proved effective in persuading President Trump to reverse his position and so that construction could resume.
- As the sea spray settles, so to speak, some are asking what Governor Hochul may have “traded” in exchange for the project’s reprieve, and there’s speculation the Constitution is involved – as in, the 125-mile-long Constitution gas pipeline.
⚡️ The Takeaway
Taking the gloves off. The Empire Wind win notwithstanding, the offshore wind industry is preparing to take a “more aggressive approach” to counter the administration’s bellicose stance. At a recent offshore wind conference, Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock said, “The only way out is through. It’s time we respond with strength.” For its part, Equinor is powering ahead with construction on the 810 MW Empire Wind 1 project, and that’s welcome news in Sunset Park, New York, home to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which Equinor plans to use as its base of operations – breathing new life into what used to be one of America’s busiest ports.
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Totally Tubular
Energy storage has a vital role to play in decarbonizing the electricity sector, but many battery technologies rely on rare earth minerals, which has prompted concerns about supply chain risks. And while lithium-ion batteries “have plummeted in cost over the last decade,” it could be challenging to provide enough lithium-ion batteries to support a grid dominated by renewable energy.
California-based Inlyte Energy believes it has a solution: grid batteries “made with the most abundant materials – iron and table salt.” This technology dates back to the 1980s, but didn’t gain traction then due to “a different set of needs at the time.” Fast forward to today, and iron + salt could deliver bodacious benefits for the energy transition.
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Photo credit Inlyte Energy |
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In 2023, Inlyte received $8 million in seed funding, and in March 2025, it announced a strategic partnership with HORIEN Salt Battery Solutions to scale iron-sodium battery manufacturing in the U.S. In May, it announced that it will build its first utility-scale demo project for Southern Co. near Birmingham, Alabama.
Although the 80 kw / 1.5 MWh demo project is just a small first step, the project “marks a necessary…early stage in Inlyte’s commercialization.” The company touts low costs for materials and manufacturing, the ability to produce iron-salt batteries domestically, and the technology’s durability and safety as key features. Not bad for a battery made from pantry staples.
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Building American power requires a powerful team. |
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