By Mark Jaffe, EUCI energy writer
An estimated $1.6 billion in clean energy factories and projects were cancelled in September facing pressure from Trump administration and 500 solar projects, nearly 116 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, are also at risk, according to industry analyses.
There has been a steady drum beat of cancellations for clean energy industrial projects in 2025, now totaling $24.3 billion for the year, according to an analysis by E2, a clean energy industry group.
September cancellations hit four major battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) facilities in Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
General Motors downsized EV production in Tennessee and Kansas and Natron Energy shuttered its Michigan plant and halted a planned $1.4. billion North Carolina factory.
For the year, manufacturing projects account for almost all the investment cancellations, about $19.8 million, with battery storage and EV projects making up three-quarters of the scrapped projects.
“The findings underscore the growing risk that federal and administrative policy rollbacks—especially the removal of clean energy incentives—are destabilizing one of the nation’s fastest-growing industries, with ripple effects across supply chains, manufacturing hubs, and rural economic development,” the E2 analysis said.
A study by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) also identified 500 solar projects at risk due to “political attacks on the solar and storage industry.”
President Donald Trump has called solar energy part of “the scam of the century” and the administration’s budget bill adopted in July rapidly sunsets federal tax credits for wind and solar. In addition, permitting approvals and awarded funds have been slow in coming.
SEIA, using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said it identified 73 GW of solar and 43 GW of storage projects that have not yet received all the required federal, state and local permits and are “at risk of being targeted by the administration.”
Projects must start construction by July 1, 2026 or be in operation by Dec. 31, 2027 to receive the federal Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit. The two credits can cover as much as 50% of the cost of a project.
The 116 GW of projects make up more than half of all new power planned to be built in the United States through 2030 and are spread across 44 states.
The states with most projects in jeopardy, according to SEIA, are: Texas with 165 projects, New York with 53 projects, and Virginia with 32 projects.
Based on projected new capacity, the states hardest hit would be Vermont where its two solar projects make 97% of the new capacity for the state, Nevada where eight projects make up 94% of new capacity, and Oregon where 9 at-risk projects make up 93% of slated new capacity.
“This federal red tape also undermines the energy security and policy certainty that businesses need to plan for the future,” said SEIA.
E2 also did a geographic and political analysis the factory cancellations finding that while Democratic congressional districts and states are losing the most from the administration cancelling federal clean energy funding, Republican districts are losing the most from private-sector cancellations.
“More than $12.4 billion in investments that would have created almost 15,000 jobs have been cancelled in Republican districts so far in 2025,” E2 said. “Over $7.5 billion and 5,000 jobs have been lost in Democratic districts.”
There were $542 million in clean energy investments announced in September with the biggest being Hitachi Energy’s $457 million grid manufacturing facility in Virginia.
“However, new investments still fall far short of offsetting the scale of cancellations and slowdowns across the clean energy manufacturing base,” E2 said.
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