The battery belt is getting skinnier

Politico

7 days ago

America's burgeoning battery belt has gone on a crash diet.
According to a new study out today, dozens of clean energy projects have slowed down or died during the first six months of the Trump administration — many of them in Republican congressional districts.
'Projects are being paused, cancelled, and closed at a rate 6 times more than during the same period in 2024,' reads the latest report out of the 'The Big Green Machine.' The website, which tracks U.S. clean energy investments, is run by Jay Turner, a professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and his students.
Big projects are the hardest hit, along with those that got federal funds now marked for removal by the Trump administration. Left high and dry in the receding wave are low-income communities, which are the very people the Biden administration sought to help with the vast resources of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The report matters because it's one of the first pulse checks on how the battery industry — an emerging area of competition with China — is faring after Trump's slash-and-burn of federal aid.
The Big Green Machine also tracks projects in solar and wind energy, but nearly all the action was in EVs and batteries.
Overall, the U.S. clean energy industry is still expanding. Turner found that 68 projects, worth more than $24 billion and expected to create more than 33,000 jobs, have broken ground, stood up pilot plants or ramped production.
Some are high profile, like LG Energy Solution, which in May started up a new $1.4 billion factory in Holland, Michigan, originally meant to make EV batteries but now intended to make stationary ones. Most others are small, like a new electric-bus assembly plant outside of Peoria, Illinois.
But a countercurrent is dampening the mood. Prospects dimmed for 34 projects that are worth more than $31 billion and were expected to create almost 28,000 jobs. They either shut down, delayed timetables by six months or more, lost a significant chunk of funding or shrunk in scale.
One example is Aspen Aerogels, a maker of EV battery materials that in February killed plans for a factory in Statesboro, Georgia, that would have created more than 250 permanent jobs.
The company called off a $670 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy and declared its intention instead to expand operations in China.
A lot of the impact is still unclear. More than 480 projects worth $234 billion show no outward signs of change.
The policies Republicans have passed are so recent that they may not have worked their way through the economy. In the last three months, Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed bills that removed key tax credits, taken the teeth out of fuel-economy rules and neutered California's ability to force automakers to sell EVs.
But so far, capital is draining away most quickly from the Republican congressional districts that saw the lion's share of investment. GOP districts saw 60 percent of the funding decline, while Democratic districts saw 39 percent.
The tide is turning especially in disadvantaged communities, which were a priority for investment under Biden. Census tracts with lower incomes and fewer job prospects saw 47 percent of projects slow, compared to 30 percent in more prosperous census areas.
It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, David Ferris. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to [e-mail].
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel breaks down how Republicans are working to sell the megalaw's energy elements.
Power Centers
EPA moves to gut climate rulesThe Trump administration is proposing to repeal the federal government's bedrock scientific declaration on the dangers of greenhouse gases, writes Alex Guillén.
The move to undo the so-called endangerment finding would run afoul of decades of research and topple most climate regulations. EPA also proposed scrapping all limits on carbon dioxide pollution from cars and trucks.
Hours before EPA released the proposal today, Administrator Lee Zeldin asserted several half-truths and inaccurate claims about the finding on a right-wing podcast. Read Jean Chemnick's fact check here.
'Learning curves' for small reactor developerKairos Power is the only U.S. company building a small nuclear reactor. But it's doing so with a technology that hasn't been commercially tested, Francisco 'A.J.' Camacho writes.
The company's use of molten fluoride salt as a coolant is a risky bet in an industry that has seen other players stumble. But Kairos executives believe they are up to the task.
'It does take time to stand up these capabilities, but when you stand them up and you've actually gone through those kinds of learning curves and those kinds of scar tissues that you get, we now have a very capable team that's able to deliver and do a lot more,' Edward Blandford, Kairos' co-founder and chief technology office, told A.J.
Is $750B EU energy pledge possible?The EU landed a trade deal with the U.S. in part by pledging to buy $750 billion worth of American energy — an almost impossible task, Victor Jack reports from Brussels.
The bloc spent €76 billion on energy imports from the U.S. last year, meaning it would need to essentially triple that amount over three years, said Laura Page, a senior analyst at the Kpler commodities firm. Meanwhile the U.S. exported just $166 billion in oil and gas last year, she said.
The headline figure is 'completely unrealistic,' Page said. 'The numbers are just beyond wild.'
In Other News
Split the bill? Power hungry data centers are sparking a fight over who will pay for the extraordinary amount of electricity they need.
Scottish roots: Trump's loathing for wind turbines started with a Scottish court battle.
Subscriber Zone
A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
The Senate confirmed David Wright to be chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as Democrats voiced concerns over the agency's future.
The National Science Foundation is eliminating senior staff positions as the Trump administration restructures the agency and eyes major cuts to the federal workforce.
The EU says it will include nuclear reactors and other technology exports in its $750 billion energy pledge that was part of its U.S. trade agreement.
America's network of rapid-charging electric vehicle stations is growing despite the Trump administration's pullback of support.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.