Hundreds of new power projects set to be built over the next five years, including utility-sized solar farms and offshore wind farms, were canceled by their developers in 2025 because of the Trump administration‘s crackdown on renewables, pushback from local communities, and difficulties connecting to the broader grid.
The loss of electricity generation from these scrapped projects could make it more difficult for utilities to meet the growing demand from the advancement of artificial intelligence, particularly as the administration aggressively pushes for the rapid build-out of AI tech to get ahead of China. It could also push up electricity prices further, adding to the recent cost burdens already placed on households nationwide.
In a report published Tuesday morning, Cleanview, an organization that tracks energy trends, found that, throughout this year, 1,891 power projects were canceled, with a combined generation capacity of roughly 266 gigawatts.
For comparison, Texas has a net generation capacity of around 168 gigawatts during the summer, according to the Energy Information Administration. One gigawatt is roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power approximately 750,000 homes.
“The current trajectory is unsustainable: America is simultaneously approving unprecedented electricity demand while canceling the generation needed to meet it, creating policy incoherence that threatens grid reliability, affordability, and the country’s competitiveness in the global AI race,” the report says.
Cleanview’s report comes as the Trump administration has called for the rapid build-out of firm, baseload power, meaning sources such as oil, gas, and nuclear energy.
In July, the Department of Energy estimated that peak energy supply demand will increase by at least 100 gigawatts by 2030, with 50 gigawatts of this growth directly attributable to data centers. That share may very well grow, as BloombergNEF forecast last week that data center power demand will hit around 106 gigawatts by 2035.
Clean energy advocates have argued that renewable energy projects, combined with storage, can help meet those immediate demands, as they are historically faster to connect to the grid.
Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview, told the Washington Examiner that “virtually all” of the projects canceled this year would have been built within the next five years.
“President Trump, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum need to lead the charge by matching their ‘all of the above energy’ rhetoric with action,” Thomas said.
“If they want to achieve their energy affordability goals, they need to stop blocking energy projects and creating uncertainty for developers and investors,” he continued. “State leaders also need to lead and pass meaningful permitting reform bills that prevent small, vocal groups of NIMBYs from blocking necessary infrastructure due to aesthetic concerns.”
Cleanview’s report found that green energy projects have been hit the hardest by the cancellations, with wind, solar, and battery storage projects making up 93% of the projects scrapped this year.
Broken down, more than 86 gigawatts worth of utility-scale solar generation capacity was canceled, while the battery storage industry lost roughly 79 gigawatts of capacity, and 54 gigawatts worth of wind projects were slashed.
These cancellations were driven by several factors, including President Donald Trump’s vow to halt the development of offshore wind and certain solar projects.
Cleanview placed blame on the administration-wide attempt to slow down renewables, including the cancellation of more than $679 million in federal funding for offshore wind-related projects, and the Interior Department’s campaign to stop work on projects already under construction.
The report says these policy changes led to the cancellation of 13.2 gigawatts of projects in the New York ISO’s grid territory, as well as 11 gigawatts of wind projects in New England and 2.5 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in California.
However, the administration is not all to blame. Cleanview found that the cancellations were in part driven by local opposition to large-scale solar and other clean energy power plants, as well as falling revenues and rising developer costs within the battery storage market.
Interconnection hurdles have also played a role, as the report details that high costs to connect projects to the grid and the slow buildout of transmission infrastructure are deterring developers.
Cleanview detailed that Louisiana and Missouri, which saw the largest amount of cancellations in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s region, had the highest interconnection costs, at around $928,000 and $915,000 per megawatt, respectively.
These recent cuts were not just limited to renewable energy projects. Cleanview found that more than 4 gigawatts of gas power projects were slashed this year, largely due to the growing supply chain crisis for gas infrastructure, including lengthy wait times to obtain large gas turbines.
Thomas said the trend of developers bailing on new power projects will likely continue to grow, particularly as Inflation Reduction Act subsidies for wind and solar projects are set to sunset in the next two years unless developers can meet critical construction or placed-in-service targets.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT AMONG TOP FIVE GLOBAL PROBLEMS, CHRIS WRIGHT SAYS
Republicans successfully terminated the federal tax credits this summer through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allows renewable developers to claim the subsidies until the end of 2027 if they begin construction within the next year.
As those deadlines inch closer, Thomas said he expects to see another “surge of cancellations.”
