Meanwhile, Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d<\/a> is intentionally handicapping more easily and faster-built wind, solar, and battery storage projects that would help satiate the massive data-center power demands of the large-scale cloud-service providers known as hyperscalers. The final legislation approved by Congress on July 3 (the House concurred on a 218\u2013214 vote) agrees to quickly unwind the clean-energy tax credits that could have helped strengthen an already stretched electric grid.<\/p>\n The GOP is leaning on clean-energy cuts to support fossil fuels, while channeling the president\u2019s own anti-renewables sentiments: He has often decried the intermittent nature of wind and solar\u2014even if that unpredictability is increasingly offset by the growth of battery storage for renewable energy. And of course, cutting tax credits helps offset federal spending elsewhere in the bill.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, the clean-energy industry is up in arms about the BBB legislation. Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said it will increase electricity bills, shut down manufacturing facilities, cost many thousands of U.S. construction jobs, and weaken the grid.<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation [will] set back America\u2019s global competitiveness, destabilize our energy future, and weaken the very industries that power our economy and strengthen our national security\u2014while surrendering the 21st-century tech race to China,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n On the other hand, with money flowing from fossil-fuel interests to support Trump and Republicans last year, oil and gas lobbyists\u2014who frequently decry clean-energy tax credits as unfair\u2014praised the final bill.<\/p>\n Melissa Simpson, president of the oil and gas industry\u2019s Western Energy Alliance, hailed the \u201cmonumental bill that\u2019ll unleash the energy we need.\u201d She specifically touted \u201cprovisions promoting oil and natural gas production on public lands\u201d and the halting of the emissions-related \u201cexcessive tax on natural gas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEnergy dominance\u201d or \u201cenergy abundance\u201d?<\/p>\n The final legislation rapidly phases out tax credits for all clean energy projects not online by the end of 2027\u2014exempting those that break ground by June 2026. The Senate\u2019s original, less draconian language required starting construction by the end of 2027\u2014a subtle but massive timeline difference for those scrambling to get projects up and running.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just a problem for clean energy developers or environmental advocates; it could dramatically slow the country\u2019s planned and much-needed rapid increases in power generation. In simple terms, that means less power for increasingly electricity-hungry tech and manufacturing sectors, and a growing population\u2014meaning higher power bills for everyone, and possible shortfalls and brownouts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bill doesn\u2019t just burden families, it undermines our country,\u201d said Ari Matusiak, CEO of the Rewiring America nonprofit. \u201cWe need low-cost, abundant energy to compete globally. We will become collectively poorer, less resilient, and less equipped to lead in a rapidly changing world.\u201d After all, renewables accounted for almost 90% of new power generation installed in the U.S. last year, according to the Department of Energy.<\/p>\n Scott Olson\u2014Getty Images<\/p>\n Cutting deadlines back to 2027 for completing most projects will result in about 20% fewer clean-energy projects being built in the U.S. over the next 10 years, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights projections.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s extremely meaningful,\u201d said Roman Kramarchuk, head of climate market and policy analysis for S&P Global. \u201cThis isn\u2019t 20% of a small share; this is 20% of the strong majority of the new deployments.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s rough,\u201d he added. \u201cWhat it will do is increase costs for power.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of so-called energy dominance, there\u2019s a growing plea from tech, utilities, and political moderates for scaled-up \u201cenergy abundance\u201d\u2014a stance that embraces all forms of power to more rapidly build capacity and help push down prices. But both political parties have been tripped up by ideology, failing to support a strategy that includes clean energy and natural gas\u2014with the GOP targeting renewables and Democrats fighting fossil fuels.<\/p>\n That\u2019s despite the urging of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), an organization representing investor-owned electric utilities nationwide, and many others. \u201cWe\u2019re in unprecedented times for our industry; we haven\u2019t seen this type of load growth since the advent of air conditioning,\u201d EEI chairman and Exelon<\/a> CEO Calvin Butler told Fortune. \u201cWe have to get new power generation built. It\u2019s going to take the all-of-the-above portfolio approach\u2014nuclear, gas, wind, solar, and new technologies like battery storage.\u201d<\/p>\n Butler said he would have supported the legislation if it allowed clean energy projects to break ground by 2027, although later was preferred. \u201cWe believe the tax credits are key,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t believe we can get to the energy dominance without having renewables as part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Why do we need so much power?<\/p>\n After a couple of decades during which U.S. power demand has remained relatively stagnant, domestic electricity consumption is expected to spike by 25% from 2023 to 2035 and roughly 60% from 2023 to 2050, according to the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A big part of that increase comes from the hyperscalers: Amazon<\/a>, Google<\/a>, and Microsoft<\/a> are investing anywhere from $75 billion to $100 billion each into building data centers for 2025 alone.<\/p>\n To put those dollars in context, the entire market cap of Big Oil giant BP<\/a> is $80 billion. A planned super-sized Meta<\/a> data center in Louisiana, for instance, would require twice the power used by the whole city of New Orleans.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2216759840.jpg\"\/)
A wind power turbine near Constellation Energy\u2019s LaSalle Clean Energy Center nuclear power plant, in Illinois.<\/p>\n
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The credit for residential solar projects will be axed as part of the megabill passed by Congress July 3.<\/p>\n