Trump administration policies threaten 92 GW of clean energy

Permitting delays pushed by the Trump administration threaten to derail 92 gigawatts of clean power in the U.S. According to a study by consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, these federal challenges affect more than $121 billion in investment in the energy space. This regulatory friction arrives at a critical moment, as electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers is skyrocketing. Market forecasters at BloombergNEF expect data centers to grow in number and scale over the coming decade, which is expected to push up their electricity use nearly threefold by 2035.

The increased permitting friction stems from an August 2025 order issued by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. The order sought to “rein in environmentally damaging wind and solar projects.” This policy shift is accompanied by a decision from the Trump administration to lift protections for 80% of U.S. wetlands, creating further regulatory uncertainty for renewable energy developers.

The impact of these policy changes is already visible. Wood Mackenzie reported that permitting changes and federal funding withdrawals led to the cancellation of 7 gigawatts of generating capacity on federal land in 2025. Furthermore, the consulting firm warns that additional scrutiny could cancel another 12 gigawatts of capacity on federal land and 80 gigawatts on private property. This bottleneck occurs even as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is requiring grid operators to offer a fast lane for grid connections. However, this requirement has done little to address the bottleneck in new generating capacity. The grid constraints are particularly acute given that solar, batteries, and wind represented nearly 90% of the record 53 GW of new generating capacity added in 2025.

Burgum’s order represents a marked shift from his previous tenure as governor of North Dakota. During that time, he oversaw an expansion of wind power within the state and set a target for North Dakota to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030. As recently as 2024, Burgum boasted about North Dakota’s rich wind resources, which produced a third of the state’s electricity in 2022.

Why it matters

The bottleneck in energy infrastructure creates a direct conflict between the U.S. government’s regulatory agenda and the massive power requirements of the AI industry, potentially stalling critical grid expansion.