Renewable energy technologies in the United States will remain competitive over the next four years despite the uncertainties brought by Donald Trump's presidential election victory. This is the assessment of the latest report released by wood mackenzie, a company specialized in energy market analysis.
In a post on the company's website, Wood Mackenzie's energy transition practice director, David Brown, pointed out that the Trump istration will not change the demand for solar photovoltaic energy in the US in the short term.
“The U.S. is likely to adopt lighter standards on emissions regulations, more protectionist trade policies and withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, which would move U.S. policy away from a net-zero emissions trajectory,” Brown wrote.
However, according to the executive, bipartisan for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in Congress, the competitive economy for renewable energy and the private sector's net zero goals “will not hinder the energy transition” in the country.
In all, 18 Republican congressmen spoke out against repealing the IRA and its more than $220 billion in investments. “The likelihood of a complete repeal of the IRA is low. However, there may be some changes to the legislation,” he said.
Overall, Wood Mackenzie predicts that investment in renewable energy in the United States may slow, but that capacity is expected to grow by more than 240 GW between 2024 and 2030, even in a bad energy transition scenario.
data centers
In his post, Brown highlights that he hopes Trump will the growth aspirations of big techs in the country, as the trend is for data centers to become a significant feature of the future.
Data-dependent companies like Meta, Google and Amazon have already signed large, long-term deals with some of the largest solar developers in the United States. “We have identified over 51 GW of new data center announcements since 2023.”
Projections
According to Wood Mackenzie, there is currently no lack of demand for solar energy in the United States, as the country has a pipeline of contracted projects totaling almost 100 GW.
“A Trump istration won’t change that in the short term. We expect steady installation growth in the coming years, despite high demand for solar, driven largely by connection and transmission bottlenecks,” Brown said.
Despite the optimistic projections, the executive recognizes that the growth of the American solar sector is at risk if the IRA undergoes substantial modifications.
This week, Trump nominated Chris Wright, CEO of the multibillion-dollar oilfield services company Liberty Energy, as its new Secretary of Energy, something that could change the role and composition of the US energy department.
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