Donald Trump is presiding over an unexpected clean energy boom, as rising electricity demand spurs investment in new capacity despite the US administration’s efforts to thwart a solar and wind rollout.

Clean energy additions will rise by a record 45 gigawatts this year, according to S&P Global Energy—equivalent to the average electricity demand of Turkey. The increase is roughly 25 percent higher than the record set in 2024.

The US president’s war in Iran, which has driven up global energy prices, along with surging power demand from AI data centers and developers’ rush to capitalize on expiring tax credits, are driving the cleantech boom, said analysts. Trump’s administration has also been pragmatic in the face of its energy needs.

Read full article

Comments

Today we have made the choice to turn around and head back down the Shropshire Union Canal and find another route to follow, above us we are hearing about broken locks and water shortages meaning we cannot head to the Middlewich Branch and onwards down the Trent and Mersey Canal. We wanted to do a quick wash, so we have started the engine and the solar is kicking out between 300-450W…

Source

When last we looked at the state of the US grid, the ongoing explosion in solar energy had turned it into a major contributor, but one that still lagged well behind fossil-fuel-powered generation. So it was a bit of a surprise when preliminary data suggested that May 2026 saw solar power pass coal-fired generation for the first time in the US. Now, with the official release of April grid data by the Energy Information Administration, we can see that production of solar electricity had passed coal a month earlier—with a bit of a caveat.

The caveat being that a substantial chunk of that solar production never reached the grid, since it's produced by rooftop installations and used in the building they sit atop.

The situation heading into April/May was pretty simple. After a brief resurgence last year, coal use resumed its decline, despite repeated government attempts to prop it up. Meanwhile, solar continued its rapid growth, driven by its position as the cheapest way to add generating capacity in most of the US. But this growth started from a small base, and the early months of the year are marked by seasonally low solar production. As a result, growth above 20 percent year over year still left solar providing only 6 percent of the power on the US grid, a sharp contrast to coal's 16 percent.

Read full article

Comments