By Mark Jaffe, EUCI energy writer
Clean energy and transportation investments in the United States totaled $61 billion in the first quarter of 2026, a 9% year-over-year quarterly decline and a 3% drop from the last quarter of 2025, according to Rhodium Group.
The decline in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the 2026 first quarter marks the first consecutive quarterly declines since 2019, the research and data consultant’s Clean Investment Monitor said.
Investment varied and was uneven across sectors.
Clean energy production and industrial decarbonization technology investment, for example, hit $25 billion in in the first quarter of 2026, a 6% decline from the fourth quarter of 2025, but still a 15% quarterly increase year-over-year.
About $11 billion of previously announced investments in energy and industry projects were cancelled by developers in the quarter.
Still, there were $62 billion of new clean energy and decarbonization investments announced, with almost half of that for a single $27 billion nuclear project.
The main focus of manufacturing investments was electric vehicle (EV) supply chains, critical minerals, batteries and charging equipment, led by EV investments of $7 billion.
But EV supply chain investments dropped for the sixth straight quarter, down 10% from the fourth quarter of 2025. Battery manufacturing investment saw the steepest decline, 16% quarter-over-quarter and down 47% from the first quarter of 2025 to $5 billion.
Solar manufacturing project investments were down 22% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 to $700 million, while wind manufacturing project investment were down 2% to $20 million.
One bright spot in the first quarter of 2026 was the $1 billion in critical mineral project investments, up 36% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 and 22% year-over-year.
Investment in retail consumer purchases of clean technology – including electric vehicles, heat pumps, batteries, and solar installations – was stable compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 at $28 billion.
Nevertheless, it was a 17% decline compared to the first quarter of 2025. Electric vehicles continued to be the biggest part of the retail segment at $18 billion or 64% of the total – about the same as in the last quarter of 2025.
With the growing demand for electricity, in part spurred by data centers, and utilities entering 2026 with $14 billion in pending rate requests, according to S&P Global, clean technology investments in the sector are surging.
The cumulative investments in utility-scale solar, wind, storage, nuclear, and other clean technologies was up 29% in the last 12 months to $105 billion – the largest sustained four-quarter investment period since the Rhodium Group started its reporting in 2018.
Still, the report cautions that “the uptick occurred amid shifting electricity demand expectations, changes to the federal tax credits supporting these projects, and growing permitting uncertainty.”
While most of the utility spending remains concentrated in the “historically large markets,” including Texas, Arizona, and Florida, the Rhodium Group said it is seeing investment increasing most rapidly in small group of other states.
Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Michigan, and New York recorded the largest year-over-year increases during the past four quarters, and they account 16% of the total clean electricity investment since 2018 at $80 billion.
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