The White House Threat To New Energy

Solar and Wind Power Face Serious Threats From the Trump Administration

Justin Worland, December 8, 2017 (Time)

“…[C]lean energy developers face a slew of unanticipated threats from the White House and Republicans in Congress that could slow the industry’s growth in ways unimaginable just a year ago…[E]nergy analysts were skeptical of his promise to [use regulatory rollbacks to] reverse the market forces driving the decline in coal…But the administration has not stopped at mere deregulation. From the threat of a subsidy for coal-fired power plants to a tax bill that hurts the financing of clean-energy projects, Republicans in Washington have launched a campaign against renewable energy that includes market interventions that alarm other industries, including oil and gas…[A]dvocates of transitioning from fossil fuels are pushing back…[but] the changed mood in Washington threatens to undermine the confidence of companies planning to invest in renewables…[T]he Trump Administration may impose tariffs on solar panels imported from China…[That could] send the price of solar panels spiking and drive down new installations…A tariff would hurt the key Trump constituency of blue-collar workers and the proposal has faced opposition from conservative groups like The Heritage Foundation…Perhaps the most dramatic threat to renewable energy—and also the most unlikely to succeed—comes in the form of a proposed Department of Energy rule to [protect grid reliability by subsidizing] coal-fired and nuclear power plants…That argument has been widely panned, including by the Department’s own research. But the [Trump-appointed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] has final say…” click here for more

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