Rooftop solar installers feel like a dog that’s been repeatedly kicked.
President Donald Trump has made solar more expensive—or at least slowed the long-term decline in costs—by imposing tariffs on imported photovoltaic panels and other parts. Trump also signed a measure last year that phased out the main federal tax credit for rooftop solar.
The policy shifts have led to significant decreases in sales for installers, based on my conversations this week.
Iowa proudly ranks second in the nation for wind energy generation, with wind turbines accounting for 64% of the state’s electrical output. Wind development has become a vital engine for rural economic growth.
Howard County, with a population of just under 9,400, limited commercial development and an economy dependent on agriculture, saw its first wind farm in 2008. Today, it hosts 147 wind turbines with a total capacity of 244 megawatts — enough to power about 50,000 homes.
Turbines have a total taxable valuation of just over $115 million. This past year alone, they generated $2.7 million in tax revenue, or 14.5% of the county’s total tax budget. Two additional wind projects are in development, which will add another 230 megawatts.
paceX will build a massive rocket launch site in rural southern Louisiana, unveiling plans Tuesday for a $100 billion project that could transform the region’s economy and fragile wetlands.
Situated on roughly 125,000 acres of coastal marshland in Vermilion Parish, the project is expected to grow into SpaceX’s largest launch site. It will be built in an area that has long been an oil and gas hub, but is vulnerable to hurricanes due to the rapid coastal land loss that’s a reality in this region of the state.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in recent months pulled out all the stops to clinch the deal, signing laws to provide tax breaks for aerospace companies and shield them from lawsuits over launches.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Biden-era EPA decision that strengthened one secondary air quality standard but left two more pollutant limits untouched.
EPA did not run afoul of the Endangered Species Act in 2024 when it strengthened the secondary limit for sulfur oxides but left alone similar standards for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
The ruling leaves in place one of the few Biden-era air regulations the Trump administration decided to defend rather than rewrite or repeal.
Maine utility regulators have selected two companies to develop untapped wind power resources in the northern part of the state, part of an eagerly anticipated clean energy project supported by most New England states.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday selected Clearway Energy Group LLC to develop onshore wind turbines that can generate 800 megawatts of electricity in Aroostook County near the Canadian border.
Commissioners also chose the company Avangrid to develop a new high voltage power line to connect the proposed wind turbines to the New England regional electric grid.
Goldwind Science & Technology Co., the world’s largest wind-turbine manufacturer, said its first-half profits surged 24% as the Iran war boosted demand for clean tech in key overseas markets.
Net income was 1.85 billion yuan ($280 million) in the first six months of the year, the company said in an exchange filing on Tuesday. That compares with 1.49 billion yuan over the same period in 2025.
Global orders are strong as geopolitical disruptions stemming from the Iran war accelerate energy transition efforts in many nations that rely on oil and gas imports, boosting demand for Chinese clean-tech equipment.
The projects are dropping at a time when the three major interstate grids in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic are all facing growing demand from data centers, electrification, and new manufacturing, while some of the region’s cleanest power is generated far from its biggest cities. New York is a case in point. Half of the state’s electricity demand is concentrated around New York City and Long Island, but much of its renewable power is generated upstate, where aging transmission lines are already a bottleneck. Meanwhile, for PJM, the grid operator covering most of the mid-Atlantic, power demand is projected to grow 7.8 gigawatts higher than available supply by 2033.
Republican Mike Rogers expressed support Thursday for a “pause” on data center construction as he runs against a progressive Democrat for Michigan’s open Senate seat.
Michigan is one of the top Senate battlegrounds this cycle, with Democrats hoping to hold on to the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters.
Asked during a news conference about his “policy on data centers,” Rogers said, “I think we need to take a pause, probably, and make sure that we’re answering all the questions that people have.”
Rogers specified to the Detroit News that he supports a one-year moratorium on data centers in Michigan — a proposal state policymakers would approve — not a national ban.
President Trump has been scornful of electric cars for years. But his administration is now pouring billions of dollars into the battery technology that powers them.
Large lithium-ion batteries have become one of the rare energy technologies that both parties in Washington strongly support — though for very different reasons.
The Biden administration saw batteries as a green energy tool crucial for addressing global warming and sought to encourage manufacturing them, for use in electric vehicles and to backstop wind and solar power on electric grids. The Trump administration has rolled back efforts to expand clean energy, but officials have nonetheless come to see batteries as essential for many of Mr. Trump’s priorities, including powering A.I. data centers and manufacturing drones for the military.
A trio of environmental groups is teaming up for a $9 million advertising campaign criticizing Ohio Republican Sen. Jon Husted over the state’s utility company scandal.
The ad from the League of Conservation Voters, NRDC Action Fund and EDF Action says the FirstEnergy bribery case happened “on Jon Husted’s watch.” Ohio regulators are now seeking higher utility rates “and Jon Husted won’t stop them,” the voiceover says.
“Tell Sen. Husted we need independent oversight and more transparency, so utilities can never do this again,” the spot says.