Utility System Construction NAICS 2371

Jul 16, 2025 - Budget Reconciliation Law to Reduce Clean Energy Investment

• Renewable energy industry insiders expect the tax and policy bill signed into law in early July by President Trump to reduce clean energy investments, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act created 30% tax credits for renewable energy projects, either on the development side with Investment Tax Credits (ITC) or for producing clean energy with Production Tax Credits (PTC). The credits were to remain available until 2032. The legislation signed in July sunsets the ITC and PTC for wind and solar projects five years early in 2027. The new law also requires projects to have higher levels of US-derived content and increases restrictions on content from foreign entities of concern (FEOC). Princeton University’s REPEAT Project estimates the new law will reduce US electricity and clean fuels production by $500 billion over the next decade.
• Solar’s share of US electricity generation is expected to grow in 2025 and 2026, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short Term Energy Outlook. For the summer of 2025, solar is projected to generate 124 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of power, up 34% compared to the June-September period in 2024. By summer 2026, the EIA expects solar capacity to expand by 34% to 147 billion kWh. The Short Term Energy Outlook forecasts natural gas generation will drop 4% in 2025 amid higher fuel prices but will rise 2% in 2026.

• Since the beginning of 2025, nearly $15.5 billion in clean energy investments have been cancelled, closed, or scaled back, according to a report released in late June by clean energy advocacy nonprofits E2 and the Clean Economy Tracker. Many of the cutbacks came in anticipation of the Trump administration’s goal to claw back some tax credits created during the Biden administration. Clean energy projects have also faced other headwinds, including inflation, high interest rates, and supply chain snarls that affected project timelines, according to The Wall Street Journal. The E2 and the Clean Economy Tracker report said about $450 million was invested in May across five states for solar, EV, grid enhancements, and transmission equipment, but those investments come well short of offsetting the value of project cancellations.
• At the recent Transmission and Interconnection Summit sponsored by Infocast, regional grid operators CAISO, ERCOT, MISO, and SPP said they planned to invest billions of dollars to expand electricity transmission infrastructure, according to PV Magazine. Much of the need for transmission investment is driven by anticipated load growth. However, transmission growth is also needed to bring more low-cost renewable energy to the grid. In 2023, the US Department of Energy estimated that a clean grid would require 54,500 gigawatt-miles of additional inter-region transmission capacity. One summit speaker noted operators are committed to building a larger grid that can accommodate renewables additions, reduce costs for ratepayers, and withstand extreme weather and larger loads.