The Trump administration has killed two more offshore wind projects

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• Trump Scraps Two More Offshore Wind Projects: Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have been terminated under administration pressure, with developer EDP Renewables settling related claims in the latest blow to the U.S. offshore wind pipeline. Read More: Utility Dive.
• U.S. Eyes Record 86 GW of New Capacity: Solar and battery storage will account for nearly 80% of an unprecedented wave of utility-scale additions in 2026, with Texas commanding 40% of new solar projects. Read More: PV Magazine.
• California Approves 300 MW Soda Mountain Solar: The California Energy Commission greenlit a major solar-plus-storage installation in San Bernardino County totaling 300 MW of generation and 1,200 MWh of storage. Read More: PV Tech.
• TVA Deploys First Grid-Scale Battery in Alabama: The Tennessee Valley Authority and Plus Power will build a 200 MW/800 MWh battery system called Crawfish Creek, one of the first utility-scale storage projects in TVA's territory. Read More: Utility Dive.
• Colorado Weighs Nuclear Power Revival: The state legislature is advancing House Bill 1337 to streamline nuclear permitting, backed by Xcel Energy but opposed by environmental groups who argue it could divert resources from renewables. Read More: Colorado Sun.

Solar & Storage

The numbers tell a staggering story. The United States is on track to add 86 GW of new utility-scale generating capacity in 2026 — the most in a single year in modern history — and solar and battery storage will make up roughly 80% of it, according to new projections reported by. Renewable generation has already climbed to 26% of total U.S. electricity production in early 2026, a milestone that underscores how deeply embedded clean energy has become in the American grid — regardless of the political headwinds blowing from Washington. Read More: PV Magazine.

Texas is the undisputed engine of this boom, accounting for 40% of new solar projects nationally. The 837 MW Tehuacana Creek 1 facility is among the marquee builds underway. But California continues to stack its own massive additions. On Tuesday, the California Energy Commission approved the in San Bernardino County, paired with a formidable 1,200 MWh of battery storage — a combination that reflects the state's aggressive push to pair generation with dispatchable storage to manage evening peak demand. Read More: 300 MW Soda Mountain solar project.

That solar-plus-storage pairing is rapidly becoming the default configuration across the country. A new notes that nearly all new solar installations in California and Puerto Rico now include batteries, driven by rate structures and policy changes that make standalone solar economically incomplete. The trend is accelerating nationally as utilities, regulators, and developers converge on the same conclusion: storage is no longer optional. Read More: industry guide from Solar Power World.

In the Southeast, the Tennessee Valley Authority is making a landmark bet on that logic. TVA and developer Plus Power announced plans to build the in Alabama — one of the first grid-scale battery projects in TVA's sprawling seven-state service territory. The project supports TVA's board-approved target of deploying up to 1.5 GW of energy storage by 2029, a goal that signals the federal utility is serious about modernizing a grid long dominated by coal, nuclear, and natural gas. Read More: 200 MW/800 MWh Crawfish Creek battery energy storage system.

Meanwhile, Michigan is emerging as an unlikely laboratory for distributed clean energy innovation. In Ann Arbor, the city's Sustainable Energy Utility has launched what is believed to be the first program in which a U.S. city-owned utility directly purchases and deploys behind-the-meter solar and battery systems on residents' homes. The pilot, which began installations in the Bryant neighborhood in late April, targets energy-burdened households and uses paired with rooftop solar to reduce utility costs and bolster grid reliability, as reported by both and Solar Builder. Read More: FranklinWH battery systems, Solar Power World.

Also in Michigan, DTE Energy is pitching a novel deal to ratepayers: a , contingent on a $16 billion Oracle data center campus that would include integrated battery energy storage. The proposal illustrates the growing entanglement between data center demand — fueled by the artificial intelligence buildout — and clean energy deployment. If the project advances, DTE's ratepayers benefit from the massive new load absorbing fixed grid costs. If it stalls, rate relief evaporates. It is a high-stakes wager on the very demand that is reshaping power markets nationwide. Read More: two-year pause on residential rate increases.

On the supply-chain front, a legal battle is brewing in southeastern Oregon, where environmental advocates have for a large-scale lithium mine near the Nevada border. Lithium is the essential feedstock for the battery storage systems flooding the U.S. market, and the case crystallizes a tension that will only intensify: the clean energy transition's voracious appetite for critical minerals versus the conservation imperatives of the landscapes where those minerals lie. Read More: filed suit to block exploratory drilling.

Wind Energy

The Trump administration's campaign against offshore wind claimed two more casualties this week. under federal pressure, with EDP Renewables — which held stakes in both projects — agreeing to settle related claims. The cancellations follow Monday's reporting that the administration is paying developers to walk away from offshore wind leases, part of a broader strategy that has now effectively frozen the U.S. offshore pipeline. Read More: Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have been terminated.

The contrast with other segments of the renewables market could hardly be more stark. While onshore solar and storage developers are racing to install a record volume of new capacity, offshore wind — which requires lengthy federal permitting, seabed leases, and Jones Act-compliant vessels — remains uniquely vulnerable to executive branch hostility. The two scrapped projects further thin the list of viable U.S. offshore developments and raise urgent questions about whether any new projects can survive the current political environment.

There is, however, a flicker of progress in New England. Massachusetts has , the troubled but partially operational offshore wind farm south of Martha's Vineyard. The contract trigger suggests the state is moving to secure power deliveries from the project, which has faced construction setbacks but remains the nation's most advanced offshore installation. For a sector under siege, even incremental forward motion qualifies as significant. Read More: activated an off-take contract related to Vineyard Wind.

Policy & Markets

In Colorado, the state legislature is advancing , which would streamline nuclear power permitting and encourage new nuclear development — a move backed by Xcel Energy, the state's dominant utility, which sees nuclear as a complement to its growing renewable portfolio. Environmental groups want to kill the bill, arguing it could siphon investment and political attention away from solar, wind, and storage at a critical moment. The debate mirrors a national fault line: whether the clean energy tent should expand to embrace advanced nuclear, or whether doing so risks diluting the momentum behind renewables. Read More: House Bill 1337.

The updated , the national fire safety standard governing energy storage installations, is also drawing attention from developers and project engineers. The revised code introduces new requirements for battery system design and safety that could affect project timelines and costs — a reminder that the storage boom must navigate not just market forces but an evolving regulatory framework around fire risk, a concern that has dogged lithium-ion battery installations from California warehouses to New York substations. Read More: 2026 edition of NFPA 855.

Internationally, the gas-electricity price nexus remains a central challenge. A examines why electricity markets worldwide remain tethered to volatile natural gas prices, even as renewables claim a growing share of generation. The piece underscores a reality American grid operators know well: until storage and demand flexibility can fully replace gas peakers, fossil fuel price swings will continue to ripple through ratepayer bills — giving added urgency to the battery storage buildout now underway across the United States. Read More: Financial Times analysis.

LOOKING AHEAD

• Offshore Wind Fallout: Watch for additional lease cancellations and developer write-downs as the Trump administration's buyout strategy accelerates; state attorneys general in New York and New Jersey may challenge federal authority to unilaterally terminate approved projects.
• Solar Tariff Impact: The Commerce Department's preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 234% on solar modules from India, Indonesia, and other nations — announced Sunday — will begin reshaping supply contracts and project economics in the coming weeks as developers scramble for domestic and exempt-origin panels.
• Colorado Nuclear Vote: House Bill 1337 faces key committee votes in the coming days, with the outcome likely to signal whether other Western states pursue similar nuclear-friendly legislation amid surging data center power demand.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The U.S. clean energy market is splitting into two realities — an onshore solar and storage sector barreling toward record deployment on the strength of economics and demand, and an offshore wind industry being dismantled project by project by a hostile federal government — and executives must plan for both simultaneously.