US renewable associations pledge to work with Trump administration

US clean energy associations have congratulated Donald Trump on his presidential election victory, highlighting their industries’ role in creating jobs and providing reliable, homegrown power amid concerns over what Trump’s new term will mean for the clean energy transition.

Both the American Clean Power Association (ACP) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) expressed readiness to work with the new admisntration.

“ACP looks forward to working with the Trump-Vance Administration to unleash American-made energy, deliver reliable power to the grid, grow the economy, and enhance our national security,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet.

“Domestically produced clean power is vital to meeting our nation’s surging electricity demand. Our industry grew by double digits each year under the first Trump Administration and has accelerated this rate of progress since. Private sector clean energy investment is bringing jobs and economic opportunity to small towns and rural communities across the nation, while hundreds of new factories have come online in states that have seen far too many good jobs move overseas,” Grumet added.

“America’s solar and storage industry is unleashing abundant, homegrown energy that is creating jobs and delivering affordable, reliable power to every home and business in this country,” SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper stated, adding she looks forward to working with the incoming administration “to ensure the solar and storage industry, as well as the domestic manufacturing renaissance we’ve seen over the last few years, continue to thrive and play a vital role in America’s energy economy.”

The Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) Coalition, which includes solar manufacturers like First Solar and Qcells, also expressed commitment to working with the Trump administration on reshoring the solar manufacturing industry.

“President Trump’s trade actions during his first-term resulted in significant relief for solar manufacturers. Smart trade and tax policy can shield thousands of American manufacturing workers from the relentless onslaught of state-backed Chinese firms’ anticompetitive business practices. With solar as the cheapest form of energy on the grid, we look forward to continuing to bring back American manufacturing and reduce our reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains,” commented SEMA executive director Mike Carr.

BloombergNEF (BNEF) recently said that the strong growth in US clean energy is expected to continue, although the outcome of the election could affect long-term renewable energy expansion.

In its 2H 2024 US Clean Energy Market Outlook, released before the election results, BNEF projects 1,118 GW of solar, wind and energy storage additions in the US from 2025 to 2035 in its base case forecast.

While Trump has vowed to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), BNEF sees a full repeal as unlikely. However, it estimates that if IRA tax credits are removed immediately and projects starting construction by 2025 are grandfathered in through safe-harbouring, additions over the period could drop by 17%, to 927 GW, with wind energy seeing the greatest impact.

A repeal of the IRA’s tax credits is not expected to derail the US’s clean power growth. According to BNEF, there will be an initial rush to take advantage of safe-harbouring, and after a subsequent drop, annual additions of wind, solar and energy storage will return to 2024 levels by 2028, on the back of competitive economics and continued demand for offtake agreements.

The Republican party is also more likely to impose tougher restrictions with respect to import tariffs for wind, solar and storage equipment, BNEF noted.

News of Trump's victory had an impact on the shares of a number of renewable energy companies.

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