In what appears to be an unwitting ongoing act of self-sabotage that threatens grid reliability in an era of rapid load growth, the United States federal government is making wind and solar development even more difficult.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum signed a Secretary’s Order that all but ensures developers of neither technology will break ground on federal lands by changing the way the department reviews energy projects. Now, in accordance with other anti-renewable proclamations from the President’s desk, Interior “will consider the proposed energy project’s capacity density when assessing the project’s potential energy benefits to the nation and impacts to the environment and wildlife.” Under the guise of more efficiently managing domestic resources, Burgum’s office will prioritize permitting those that “optimize energy generation while minimizing their environmental impact.”
In short, that means greenlighting gas and coal development, since fossil fuels provide more energy density. Burgum lumps nuclear energy into the same conversation, citing federal data showing an advanced nuclear plant is 5,500 times more efficient than an offshore wind farm. However, the comparison doesn’t mean much at the moment, considering there won’t be any new nuclear in the U.S. any time soon, if its renaissance can sustain momentum and reach scale.
“Gargantuan, unreliable, intermittent energy projects hold America back from achieving U.S. Energy Dominance while weighing heavily on the American taxpayer and environment,” Secretary Burgum stated. “By considering energy generation optimization, the Department will be able to better manage our federal lands, minimize environmental impact, and maximize energy development to further President Donald Trump’s energy goals. This commonsense order ensures our nation is stronger, our land use is optimized, and the American people are properly informed.”
Under the law, Interior must consider reasonable alternatives to proposed projects and make land use decisions, both onshore and offshore, that are “judicious.” Interior goes as far as raising the question of whether the use of federal lands for wind and solar projects is permissible, “given these projects’ encroachment on other land uses and their disproportionate land requirements, especially when reasonable project alternatives with higher capacity densities are technically and economically feasible.”
In a slightly ominous reading coda to Friday’s order, Interior says it will also identify and make the necessary revisions, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to any regulations, guidance, policies, or practices necessary to implement the order. We’ll keep our eyes peeled.
The Waiting Game
Lead times for delivery of gas turbines are five years or longer, meaning Burgum’s rhetoric either flies in the face of Trump’s “energy dominance” edicts or isn’t grounded in reality. Only three companies make them: Siemens, GE, and Mitsubishi, and if you call right now, you might be able to get your hands on one of the 120-130 advanced class turbines annually available… in 2030.
Solar and wind technologies are the least expensive and fastest to market generation solutions available, but step-up transformers, necessary for utility-scale solar and storage projects, are also a hot commodity that developers will have to wait for. Lead times range from 18 months to four years or more, depending on voltage.
Regardless of the state of the supply chain, disincentivizing any power production while staring down the barrel of massive load growth is self-defeating. However, that’s precisely what the U.S. government continues to do, increasing risks of brownouts and blackouts while guaranteeing increased electricity rates in all 50 states.
Other Attacks on Wind and Solar
Last week, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it is rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). WEAs were established to identify offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy projects. By rescinding them, BOEM de-designated more than 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic.
Secretary Burgum also announced four policy measures “ending special treatment for unreliable energy sources, such as wind,” that further undercut offshore development. Earlier this year, President Trump instituted a sweeping moratorium on offshore wind, likening turbines to “garbage in a field” that “litters” the country, assuring “no new windmills” would be built during his second term in office.
In July, at the behest of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Republican Senator Josh Hawley, the Department of Energy (DOE) terminated its financial support for the Grain Belt Express (GBE) Phase 1 project, a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line intended to transport renewable energy, namely wind and solar, across Kansas and Missouri. The feds’ conditional commitment, which would have provided a loan guarantee of up to $4.9 billion, was issued in November 2024. President Trump’s DOE now argues that it was “rushed out the door in the final days of the Biden administration.” After a review of the Grain Belt Express’s financials, DOE concluded that the conditions necessary to issue the guarantee are “unlikely to be met” and it is “not critical” for the federal government to have a role in supporting it.
Jigar Shah, former director of the LPO, questioned the legality of DOE’s actions on LinkedIn.
“This decision is illegal,” Shah wrote. “When the Loan Programs Office (LPO) applicant meets all of the requirements that are set for the conditional commitment, then the Department of Energy is obligated to close the loan.”
Chicago-based Invenergy announced shortly thereafter that the project would continue with support from private funding.
The hotly contested budget reconciliation bill passed this summer, championed by Trump, greatly disincentivizes both wind and solar development by shortening the window to capitalize on tax credit incentives for such projects. In addition, tariffs on critical minerals and imported components are making construction (unpredictably) more expensive.
As one might expect, a growing list of well-intentioned developers has either paused work or pulled out of the U.S. market entirely. Analysis conducted by Enverus Intelligence Research suggests most solar and nearly half of planned wind projects won’t survive.
Some Republicans are urging the administration to loosen its grip around the throat of new solar and wind development, but so far, nobody seems to be listening.
