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Good morning and happy Friday,
Last Friday, President Trump announced that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50%. The hikes went into effect on Wednesday and are expected to have wide impacts on the clean energy industry as well as the wider economy.
The Senate reconvened this week and is focused on the House megabill, which “most analysts agree…could be devastating” for renewables. Faced with uncertainty, many developers are in a last-minute rush to qualify for IRA tax credits. E&ENews answers four questions about how the bill impacts clean energy, and flags six things to watch as it moves through reconciliation.
A handful of Republican lawmakers have indicated they want to save portions of the IRA, including Senator Tillis (R-NC). Ultimately, the fate of the IRA tax credits “will be up to the Senate Finance Committee, which is not expected to release text for its section of the bill until at least next week.” As the executive editor of Heatmap writes in this NYT opinion piece, Save Us, Senators, From a Very Expensive Mistake!
Below, we break down new research debunking solar land-use myths, investigate major permitting shifts at the Supreme Court, and explore North America's largest clean hydrogen plant.
Read on for more.
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Much Ado About 0.2%
If you've worked on a solar project in a rural area, you've likely heard it: “This is going to take away all our farmland.” The fear that solar development threatens agricultural land is a go-to argument for opponents across the country. But what if that fear is more myth than reality?
A new study from the University of Arkansas makes the case with clarity and numbers: solar's land use footprint is small—and often misunderstood. Meanwhile, other land uses, like real estate development, are the real culprits when it comes to farmland loss. Here are some must-know takeaways:
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Large-scale solar arrays currently occupy just 0.2% of Arkansas’s agricultural land—that’s two-tenths of one percent. Even if the state doubled its electricity capacity using only solar, the total land used would still be under 1%.
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Land is typically leased from willing private owners, often on lower-quality soils or timberland not well-suited for crops. Sites are chosen based on infrastructure access, topography, and minimal agricultural disruption.
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Solar is evolving alongside agriculture. From sheep grazing and pollinator habitats to floating solar on irrigation reservoirs, agrivoltaics offer opportunities to integrate clean energy and working lands in ways that enhance both.
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Public perception is misaligned with reality. Nationally, solar has displaced less than 0.05% of agricultural land. Yet the narrative persists because the facts are rarely shared—and often drowned out by louder fears.
⚡️ The Takeaway
Every acre tells a story. The Wall Street Journal recently spotlighted how depressed timber prices in the South are pushing some landowners to consider leasing land for solar. For many, it’s a lifeline. For others, it’s a tough emotional tradeoff—between tradition and opportunity.
These stories highlight a critical truth: you can’t decouple land use from local identity, economics, and emotion. Understanding a community’s land use history—whether it’s farming, forestry, or development—is essential to positioning clean energy projects as local assets.
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Cutting Red Tape
A transformative ruling from the Supreme Court last week is expected to have profound impacts for the energy industry, and could significantly improve the outlook for clean energy projects by expediting permitting and reducing costs. Here are some fast facts:
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The ruling in question pertains to a proposed 88-mile rail line in Utah, but the larger legal context involves the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires that federal agencies consider the environmental impacts of proposed projects.
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Over time, what was intended as a “procedural cross-check” evolved into a “substantive roadblock,” according to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, because the scope of environmental impacts widened beyond the direct impacts of a given project.
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Many observers feel that “NEPA acts as more of a hindrance” to clean energy projects than to the fossil fuel industry; indeed, although wind and solar projects are subject to the law, oil and gas drilling is exempt, although pipelines are not.
⚡️ The Takeaway
A landmark decision. This ruling could fundamentally reshape the legal landscape for energy development, narrowing the scope of future challenges under NEPA. While conservatives have long pushed for reform, frustration with the law has become increasingly bipartisan, with some liberals now arguing it disproportionately delays clean energy projects and fuels NIMBYism. Environmental groups, however, were quick to push back—warning that sidelining federal agency expertise may not speed things up at all. After all, NEPA is just one of many overlapping laws that continue to stall the energy transition. Without broader reform, streamlining one law may do little more than shift the bottleneck.
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Off the Grid, on the Map
It was announced this week that Element Resources received approval to move forward with its Lancaster Clean Energy Center, a $1.85 billion project that when complete in 2026, will be the largest off-grid hydrogen plant in North America.
Located in Lancaster, California, the project will be powered exclusively by 650 MW of solar, supported by long-duration BESS. It’s expected to create 250 jobs during construction, and support 36 permanent employees once operational.
Element’s CEO says the LCEC “will be a fully integrated green hydrogen power plant that is not reliant on off-site grid electricity nor any outside water source.” The facility will run electrolyzers supplied by an underground aquifer, although “it will only take 15-20% of the water that was used for farming on the same land.”
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Element predicts the project “could cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 200,000 tons annually,” and says it will distribute the gaseous and liquid hydrogen produced using zero-emission fuel cell trucks.
Some analysts predict green hydrogen could meet up to 22% of the world’s energy needs by 2050. This project sounds like a big step toward meeting that future demand.
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Building American power requires a powerful team. |
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