Clean energy dominated U.S. grid additions in 2025 at a staggering 91% of new capacity | Clean Energy Briefing — April 30, 2026

TODAY'S LEAD: Clean energy dominated U.S. grid additions in 2025 at a staggering 91% of new capacity — 50 GW worth over $150 billion — even as the Trump administration's rollback of federal tax credits now faces its first serious Republican challenge on Capitol Hill. The collision between market momentum and policy uncertainty is the defining tension of this moment in American energy.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Clean Power Hit 91% of New U.S. Grid Capacity in 2025: Utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage delivered a record 50 GW of new additions last year, generating $150 billion in economic activity and supporting 1.4 million jobs nationwide, according to new industry data reported by. Read More: PV Magazine USA.
House Republican Introduces Bill to Restore Renewable Tax Credits: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania filed the American Energy Dominance Act to reinstate the ITC and PTC set to expire after June 2026, marking a notable GOP break with the Trump administration's clean energy retrenchment, per. Read More: Solar Builder.
Democrats Probe Trump-TotalEnergies Offshore Wind Buyout: House Democrats opened an investigation into a deal that returned nearly $1 billion in seabed lease fees to TotalEnergies with a requirement to reinvest in fossil fuels, raising questions about legal authority, reports. Read More: Wind Power Monthly.
Ohio County Voters to Decide Fate of Wind and Solar Ban: Richland County, Ohio will hold a May ballot referendum on whether to reverse a ban on large-scale wind and solar projects enacted in July 2025, according to the. Read More: Ohio Capital Journal.
Octopus and Lunar Energy Launch Battery Plans in Texas: The two companies are rolling out discounted home battery systems in Texas's deregulated market that provide both household backup power and grid-scale support, reports. Read More: Utility Dive.

Solar & Storage

The numbers are now impossible to ignore. A comprehensive new analysis shows that clean power captured added in 2025, with utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage combining for 50 GW of installations worth more than $150 billion. Cumulative operational clean energy capacity now stands at 363 GW nationwide, and the sector generates $3 billion annually in land lease payments to rural landowners — a figure that undercuts the narrative that renewables hurt farming communities. Read More: 91% of all new U.S. grid capacity.

That economic footprint is showing up at the project level. California's Energy Commission is pressing forward on the in San Bernardino County, which we reported on yesterday as the first major solar development to bypass local opposition using state-level authority under Assembly Bill 205. The $700 million project, which includes 1,200 MWh of battery storage on 2,670 acres of federal land, features wildlife migration buffers designed to address environmental objections that sank the project's original 2016 proposal. The precedent matters: it signals that California will use its permitting override power for projects it deems critical to meeting state climate targets, even over county-level resistance. Read More: 300 MW Soda Mountain Solar Project.

Meanwhile, the domestic manufacturing pipeline continues to find buyers. manufactured at U.S. facilities for deployment across community solar and small-scale utility projects in 17 states, including 51 MW in California. The deal underscores how American-made panels are finding a natural market in distributed and community-scale solar — segments less exposed to the massive anti-dumping tariffs of up to 234% that the Commerce Department recently imposed on crystalline silicon imports from Southeast Asia and India. Read More: Renewable Properties has acquired 118 MW of First Solar thin-film modules.

On the storage front, Texas is emerging as a laboratory for innovative battery business models. in ERCOT's deregulated market, offering customers discounted home batteries that serve double duty: backup power for households and aggregated grid support during peak demand. It's a model that could prove especially compelling in a state still haunted by the memory of Winter Storm Uri — and one that effectively turns residential customers into distributed grid assets. Read More: Octopus Energy and Lunar Energy are launching battery-enabled electricity plans.

Separately, Chinese manufacturer Gotion High-Tech unveiled its , a 5 MW/18.8 MWh enclosed unit boasting 92.1% energy efficiency and AI-driven operations. With a grid-forming architecture, the system is designed for utility-scale deployment. Its arrival on the market will intensify an already fierce global competition in stationary storage — and raises fresh questions about whether Chinese battery systems will face the same trade barriers now confronting Chinese solar modules. Read More: Grid Gen2 energy storage system.

As these projects scale, the workforce is adapting. as utility-scale solar and battery storage installations grow in size and complexity. The industry is demanding sophisticated coordination, multi-crew field management, and deep systems knowledge for commissioning — a far cry from the plug-and-play installations of a decade ago. It's a quiet but consequential shift that reflects just how industrial-scale the clean energy buildout has become. Read More: Electrical contractors are taking on dramatically expanded roles.

Wind Energy

The offshore wind sector remains under severe pressure from the Trump administration, and now Congress is getting involved from both sides. into a deal between the administration and TotalEnergies that returned nearly $1 billion in seabed lease fees to the French energy giant — with a reported requirement that the funds be reinvested in fossil fuels. Democrats are alleging "legal failures" in the arrangement, which follows this week's termination of the Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind projects and the broader pattern of lease buyouts we've tracked all week. Read More: House Democrats have opened an investigation.

The probe adds a new dimension to the offshore wind unraveling: it's no longer just a question of whether projects will get built, but whether the mechanism for dismantling them is itself lawful. The administration has now effectively reversed course on multiple lease sales conducted under prior administrations, and the TotalEnergies deal suggests a template for converting offshore wind commitments into fossil fuel investments — a move certain to face legal challenge.

Onshore, the politics of wind remain intensely local. In , voters will head to the polls next month to decide whether to keep or overturn a ban on large-scale wind and solar projects that was enacted in July 2025. A citizen group gathered enough signatures to force a ballot referendum — a test of whether grassroots support for renewable energy can overcome the wave of local moratoriums sweeping rural America. The outcome will be watched closely in a state still grappling with the fallout from the FirstEnergy corruption trial over House Bill 6. Read More: Richland County, Ohio.

Policy & Markets

The most significant policy development today is arguably the one coming from inside the Republican caucus. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick's would reinstate the federal Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit for renewable energy projects, directly challenging the Trump administration's decision to let them expire after June 2026. The bill was developed in partnership with North America's Building Trades Unions — a politically potent alliance that frames clean energy as a jobs issue rather than an environmental one. Whether Fitzpatrick can attract enough GOP co-sponsors to force a floor vote remains an open question, but the bill's very existence reflects growing unease among Republicans in districts benefiting from clean energy investment. Read More: American Energy Dominance Act.

That tension is echoed in the utility sector. The nation's , according to Reuters — a procedural but critical step that could unclog the years-long backlog of renewable energy projects waiting to connect to the grid. The interconnection queue has been one of the most stubborn bottlenecks in the energy transition, and any acceleration in processing could unlock gigawatts of solar, wind, and storage capacity already permitted and financed. Read More: largest grid operator is beginning to process new power plant interconnection requests.

In Michigan, the rate case fight is heating up. against DTE Energy's $474 million rate increase request affecting 2.3 million customers in southeast Michigan. While not strictly a clean energy story, utility rate cases increasingly determine how quickly — and at what cost — the grid transitions to renewables. DTE's ability to recover infrastructure investments through customer rates will shape its clean energy capital spending for years. Read More: Attorney General Dana Nessel has pledged to intervene.

Internationally, U.S. capital is flowing toward clean energy even as domestic policy grows more hostile. powered entirely by behind-the-meter solar and battery storage — a striking example of American investors building abroad the kind of clean energy infrastructure that faces growing uncertainty at home. Read More: Pantheon Atlas LLC is planning a €50 billion, 1 GW hyperscaler data center campus in Croatia.

LOOKING AHEAD

Richland County Ballot Vote: Ohio voters will decide in May whether to reverse a county-level ban on large-scale wind and solar — a bellwether for local renewable energy politics across the Midwest.
June 2026 Tax Credit Deadline: With the ITC and PTC expiration fast approaching and Fitzpatrick's reinstatement bill now in play, the next six weeks will determine whether developers face a policy cliff or a last-minute reprieve.
Grid Interconnection Queue Movement: The nation's largest grid operator beginning to process new projects could accelerate deployment timelines for dozens of utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage installations already in the pipeline.

TODAY'S QUICK ANSWERS

Q: What does the Fitzpatrick bill's introduction mean for renewable energy developers facing the June 2026 tax credit expiration?

A: It's a political signal more than an imminent rescue. The American Energy Dominance Act faces long odds in a Republican-controlled Congress aligned with the Trump administration's fossil fuel priorities, but it gives moderate GOP members political cover and could become a bargaining chip in broader energy legislation. Developers should not count on it passing before the deadline — but its existence, backed by building trades unions, suggests the tax credit fight isn't over even after expiration.

Q: Why does the TotalEnergies offshore wind buyout investigation matter beyond the $1 billion at stake?

A: Because it could establish — or undermine — the legal template for how the administration unwinds the entire U.S. offshore wind program. If Democrats can demonstrate that the lease fee returns and fossil fuel reinvestment requirements exceed the administration's legal authority, it could slow or halt similar deals with other developers. Conversely, if the arrangement survives scrutiny, expect more offshore wind leaseholders to seek similar exits.

Q: With 91% of new capacity coming from clean energy in 2025, can federal policy actually slow the transition?

A: It already is. The 50 GW installed in 2025 was largely financed under the previous policy regime. The real test comes in 2027 and 2028, when projects conceived after tariff hikes, tax credit expirations, and permitting uncertainty reach decision points. Market fundamentals favor renewables on cost, but policy headwinds can delay projects by years — and in energy, delay is often the same as cancellation.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The record-breaking 2025 installation numbers prove the clean energy market's underlying strength, but the emerging fight over federal tax credits — now with Republicans on both sides — will determine whether that momentum survives or stalls in the years ahead.