Good morning and happy Friday,

Well, we’ve said this before, but: Phew, it’s been quite the week. Within hours of taking office, President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including many focused on energy. 

In addition to putting a halt to federal permits for wind, he pledged to dramatically ramp up fossil fuel production – a curious goal, since the U.S. already produces more oil and gas than any country, at any point in history, and falling prices are a disincentive to producers. 

President Trump also pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement for the second time – effectively ceding U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy race to China, which announced it had again broken its own records for new wind and solar.

This paves the way for the Middle Kingdom to further entrench its global dominance of the sector; Europe set clean energy records in 2024 as well. 

And as Los Angeles continued to burn, much of the country was hammered with record-setting cold weather and snow, prompting internet wags to quip that President Trump had “ended global warming on Day 1.”

Read on for more.

There was so much activity on clean energy this week that it’s impossible to capture it all in a short Dispatch feature, but wind was in President Trump’s crosshairs and sustained the biggest blows. Several articles are highlighted below, but FWIW, renewable energy giants gathered in Davos appear relatively sanguine:

• On Monday, an executive order dubbed “Terminating the Green New Deal” froze funding for the IRA and the bipartisan infrastructure law; understandably, clean energy and climate advocates across the nation are on edge.
• Wind projects that need federal approval, particularly offshore projects, now face huge new challenges; although permitted projects are not affected, and offshore construction isn’t banned outright, new leases and permits have been halted. Some have called this a “scare tactic” designed to raise uncertainty and kill investment.
• In terms of onshore wind, 99% of projects are built on private land, so while they don’t require federal approval for siting, many – including projects in wind belt states that supported President Trump – could still be stymied if they’re unable to secure FAA, endangered species, or other federal permits.

Waiting for the dust to settle. Some observers note that executive orders are “just a memo on fancy letterhead” and question how much impact they will ultimately have given that several have already been met with legal challenges, Republican pushback on IRA tax credits rollbacks, and in many cases, will require congressional action. Others fear that, particularly in the case of wind, they could hit “more than half” of new projects. Time will tell if permitting reform offers a possible bright spot for developers.

A just-released report from Climate Power finds that Big Oil spent at least $445 million to influence Trump and the 119th Congress, noting that this figure is almost certainly a vast understatement because it doesn’t include money funneled through dark-money groups. Here are some key deets:

• “Megadonor oil billionaires” poured $96 million into Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and affiliated political action committees; hedge funds focused on fossil fuel trading and participants in extractive industries also contributed.
• Funds spent by trade groups and fossil fuel companies on lobbying Congress amounted to some $243 million, an investment in shaping the policy priorities of lawmakers and cabinet appointees.
• Advertising was a third category of expenditures, and “Big Oil spent some $80 million...to support their interests,” including an eight-figure ad blitz by the American Petroleum Institute. In addition, “oil and gas companies and trade groups spent more than $25 million on Republican down-ballot races.”

Chess, not checkers. Climate Power notes that these investments are already “paying dividends” and concludes that “the only way for the U.S. to truly become a global energy superpower is to free ourselves from Big Oil's grip and invest in the clean energy of the future.” 

Now is the time to lay the groundwork for long-term industry strength and expansion. Careful reflection on strategic alliances, spending, and political participation will be critical to building a resilient and sustainable foundation for the renewable energy sector.

• Podcast: The Daily: Trump plans to abandon clean energy. Can he do it? 
• Smoke Alarm: Moss Landing battery fire sparks calls to improve safety, ‘accountability’ for industry and Huge fire at Moss Landing battery plant spurs evacuations, road closures, sends out plumes of toxic smoke
• Credit Curious: Illinois explores use of RECs to juice independent transmission projects 
• American Exceptionalism: ‘All the above, except wind’: GOP retools energy philosophy 
• We Have Questions: Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick for public lands boss, questions reliability of renewable power 
• Comeback Kid: South Carolina to reboot giant nuclear project to meet AI demand
• Becoming Bilingual: Learning how to say “climate change” in a MAGA world 
• Global Cooling: Investor interest in solar, storage cools amid Trump administration uncertainty 
• Rescue Me: 17 attorneys general ask Congress to protect the IRA 
• Free Willie: Trump taps Mark Christie to lead FERC, replacing Willie Phillips 
• Backhanded Compliment: Solar was the biggest non-loser of Trump’s first day
• Latest and Greatest: Oregon to host nation’s largest solar-plus-storage installation
• Growing Pains: Need for agrivoltaics standards emerges as dual-use projects proliferate 
• Brown is Beautiful: Novel solar project sprawling old subsurface mine to tap into domestic supply chain 
• Good News: West Coast floating offshore wind could deliver 33 GW by 2050, DOE labs say

• ID: Trump signs executive order, suspends Lava Ridge Wind Project
• KY: Solar farm moving closer to reality
• MA: SouthCoast Wind gets final BOEM nod
• MD: Nearly 100 acres of agriculture land slated for community solar development
• MI: County denies solar ordinance change
• NC: GUC solar project generates enthusiasm at hearing
• NE: Lancaster County Board approves proposed solar farm near Hallam
• NJ: Congressman working with Trump to halt offshore wind
• OH: OPSB denies rehearing for Circleville Solar Project, approves modifications for several energy projects
• PA: Waymart, Paupack Township, Dreher Township have hearings soon on solar farms
• SC: Government grants money for solar, nuclear power as Biden leaves office
• TX: County to host public hearing regarding proposed changes to NextEra wind farm tax abatement agreement
• WA: Second bill filed to limit state governor's authority to approve locally opposed wind farms
• WY: 320-MW wind project achieves commercial operation

It’s been a bumpy week for renewable energy supporters, but the prospects for one clean energy technology may be looking up: amid the “spate of orders” favoring fossil fuels, geothermal found favor.

As part of his declaration of an energy emergency, Trump “included geothermal heat as one of the domestic energy resources that could help ensure a reliable, diversified and affordable supply of energy.”

In related news, last week the DOE “launched a research and development program into the production of superhot rock geothermal energy.” The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy – affectionately known as ARPA-E – is offering $30 million in funding for its SUPERHOT program, which stands for “Stimulate Utilization of Plentiful Energy in Rocks through High-temperature Original Technologies.”

In case you haven’t heard, superhot rock geothermal energy is an untapped resource with significant potential. According to the Clean Air Task Force, just 1% of U.S. capacity could provide 4.3 TW of firm power.

The technology faces a lot of challenges, but in a recent first special report on geothermal, the International Energy Agency found it could “meet up to 15% of global electricity demand growth by 2050.” Sounds like a hot ticket.