President Donald Trump’s administration has put the majority of Texas’ planned solar and battery storage projects at severe risk of regulatory limbo. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a prominent trade group, reports that federal policies are slowing down permits and rolling back crucial tax credits. This could prevent over 13,000 megawatts of solar and battery projects, half of all scheduled projects, from coming online in Texas next year. By 2027, the at-risk capacity is projected to surge to more than 22,500 megawatts out of 26,000 planned, encompassing 165 identified projects.

More than 70 gigawatts of solar and 40 gigawatts of battery projects nationwide currently await federal, state, and local permits, making them vulnerable to an administration seemingly determined to prioritize fossil fuels over renewable development. Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter, noted that some projects have already lost funding from canceled Solar for All grants, indicating potential project abandonment due to lost tax incentives. The full impact is still unfolding.

The Trump administration initiated significant changes in July, requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office to approve all clean energy project decisions. In a public announcement, the Interior Department declared it was “ending preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy.” By September, an agency official confirmed that limited resources were leading the department to prioritize permits for new fossil fuel plants, favoring what they termed “reliable” power sources. The Interior Department has not disclosed how many solar and storage projects have been approved since July.

SEIA President Abigail Ross Hopper warns that these policies pose an existential threat to the future of U.S. energy. She stated, “Political attacks on solar and storage are putting half of all power planned to come onto the grid this decade at risk, just as electricity demand from AI is exploding.” Hopper emphasized that these projects are vital for lowering family costs, strengthening the grid, and securing America’s global competitiveness.

Despite Trump’s campaign promise to halve electricity bills nationwide within 12 months, a new analysis by Democratic members of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee reveals the opposite is happening. Households in nearly every state are projected to pay more for electricity this year, potentially over $100 extra. Texas is no exception; average household electricity costs are expected to climb from $1,960 last year to $2,070 this year, a 5.6 percent increase. Washington, D.C., and Indiana face even steeper projected increases of over 22 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s grid operator, previously credited both solar and storage for successfully shoring up the grid throughout a summer marked by record-breaking energy demand without needing conservation calls. This underscores the critical role these projects play in maintaining grid stability.

Earlier debates in the state legislature regarding restrictions on renewable growth in Texas prompted the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance Club to report that blocking future renewable energy and storage would cost Texans an estimated $115 billion in higher wholesale prices over the next 15 years for both residential and commercial customers within ERCOT. Reed reiterated the urgency, stating, “Texans know how nonsensical it is for President Trump and Congress to cancel tax incentives for renewables and Solar for All grants so they can spend hundreds of millions to prop up old, polluting coal plants.” He concluded that Texans deserve these projects to be built, not lost to federal decisions detrimental to business, consumer bills, and environmental health.