Donald Trump, the President of the United States, is imposing significant regulations on the renewable energy industry since his return to power. The industry is currently engulfed in uncertainty as major projects have been canceled due to permitting freezes, reductions in tax benefits, and trade regulations.
On the 4th (local time), Bloomberg highlighted the current state of the renewable energy industry in the U.S., reporting that the Trump administration is imposing unprecedented regulatory crackdowns on wind and solar corporations, causing the entire sector to be shaken. This comes just three years after the previous Biden administration introduced historic levels of investment and tax incentives through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
In fact, President Donald Trump has imposed various controls on renewable energy businesses since shortly after his inauguration in January. He has completely frozen permits for wind and solar projects on federal government-owned land and waters, while indefinitely halting new leases for offshore wind farm construction. Furthermore, he has taken measures to add approval processes for all solar and wind power projects on federal land, effectively preventing the development of any new projects.
President Trump has expressed strong aversion to renewable energy, citing it as expensive and inefficient. He has referred to solar panels as 'Chinese black plastic' and criticized them as 'eyesores covering farmland,' while repeatedly labeling wind turbines as 'monsters that kill birds' and claiming they cause cancer. He has asserted that 'fossil fuels and nuclear energy are the true stable and cheap energy sources,' claiming that responding to climate change is nothing more than a 'green new scam.'
Due to Trump's views, there are forecasts that the renewable energy industry in the U.S. will temporarily be at risk of existence. President Trump has already decided to early terminate the tax incentives for wind and solar through the large-scale tax cut known as 'One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA),' and the Treasury has also strengthened related guidelines, significantly tightening the eligibility requirements for tax deductions for businesses. According to the clean energy advocacy group E2, the scale of canceled or reduced renewable energy projects in the first half of this year is reported to amount to approximately $22 billion (around 29 trillion won).
Additionally, trade regulations pose a significant burden. Previously, President Trump imposed a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum and designated wind turbine components as items posing a 'national security threat,' initiating investigations for tariff imposition. Investigations have also commenced regarding polysilicon, the key raw material for solar panels, raising the possibility of high tariffs on products from major exporting countries like China and South Korea.
The side effects are becoming a reality. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), electricity rates in the U.S. have risen more than twice the inflation rate over the past year, reaching record highs as of June. In response, President Trump claimed that 'the expansion of renewable energy has driven up electricity costs,' but the actual major factors are pointed out as increases in facility investment due to expansions in transmission and distribution networks and upgrades of aging infrastructure.
According to the private research firm Rhodium, due to the Trump administration's reduction of tax benefits for wind and solar, annual electricity costs for U.S. households are projected to increase from an average of $78 to $192 by 2035, and annual industrial energy expenditures are also estimated to rise from $7 billion to about $11 billion.
However, experts believe that the market itself may still be maintained even if federal subsidies are reduced. This is because the unit prices for equipment like solar panels and wind turbines remain low, and Democratic-led states such as California and New York are still actively working to expand renewable energy facilities.
The research organization BloombergNEF stated, 'Investment outlook for new wind, solar, and storage projects in the U.S. has been revised downward by approximately 26% since the Trump administration took office,' while analyzing that 'wind and solar can still maintain a competitive price advantage over fossil fuels.'