{"id":34979,"date":"2025-08-07T10:11:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=34979"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:11:59","slug":"renewable-energy-winners-emerge-from-trumps-big-tax-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=34979","title":{"rendered":"Renewable energy winners emerge from Trump\u2019s big tax bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\">Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=61bc431a-b12e-4555-84ce-27fb16cba2ac&amp;newsletter-id=65b8fec772badb00166eafc6\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Donald Trump\u2019s flagship tax bill was predicted to gut the renewables industry, removing Biden-era incentives that helped make green power a major part of the US energy mix.<\/p>\n<p>However, some of the sector\u2019s biggest corporate players say they stand to gain from the flurry of activity triggered by the bill as developers race to source US-made gear and lock in tax credits ahead of looming deadlines.<\/p>\n<p>At its second-quarter earnings last week, First Solar, the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the US, said Trump\u2019s One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/29cfbdec-05b9-44b2-89ad-ee954fa3e128\" data-trackable=\"link\">Big, Beautiful Bill <\/a>put it \u201cin a greater position of strength\u201d due to a crackdown on Chinese companies.<\/p>\n<p>Under Biden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/stream\/bdffe6dd-6a91-4593-b82d-c78a2d06e833\" data-trackable=\"link\">Inflation Reduction Act<\/a>, Chinese solar companies could claim manufacturing tax credits, to the chagrin of their American rivals that accused them of unfair trade practices.<\/p>\n<p>That complaint was answered in Trump\u2019s bill, which introduced Foreign Entity of Concern rules blocking adversarial countries\u2019 companies from claiming credits. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese restrictions address one of the biggest loopholes under the IRA,\u201d said First Solar chief executive Mark Widmar. \u201cIt is not unreasonable to expect there will be limited Chinese solar manufacturing in the US in the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The retreat of foreign companies and tariffs also mean that US manufacturers such as First Solar can charge more for their goods amid rising demand for power triggered by the \u201cdata centre boom\u201d, said Jeff Osborne, a managing director at TD Securities. The company announced plans to move some of its manufacturing capacity from Malaysia and Vietnam to the US.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe million dollar question is, what are people going to pay?,\u201d Osborne said. \u201cRising power prices [are] an enabler to buy equipment at an inflationary price.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another bright spot for bigger companies in Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill is their ability to \u201csafe harbour,\u201d or lock in tax credits for planned projects as long as they are completed by 2030. <\/p>\n<p>While companies can do so by spending 5 per cent of the project\u2019s costs, or starting substantial work by July 4 next year, a July executive order directed Treasury secretary Scott Bessent to tighten these rules to prevent \u201cartificial acceleration or manipulation of eligibility\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Industry watchers say this is likely to raise costs and competition for materials, and trigger consolidation in the sector.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s real anxiety out there about what this is going to look like,\u201d said Julien Dumoulin-Smith, a power, utilities and clean energy analyst at Jefferies.<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title o3-type-body-highlight\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image js-teaser\" data-id=\"2f7d0abe-75d6-4f8d-a76c-7bb42f4650eb\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/2f7d0abe-75d6-4f8d-a76c-7bb42f4650eb\" data-trackable=\"image-link\" data-trackable-context-story-link=\"image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2048\/1152\"><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Florida-based NextEra Energy, which owns the world\u2019s largest operator of wind and solar projects, said in late July that it expected to capture market share from companies with projects that are no longer viable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe compete against a lot of really small developers who don\u2019t have the balance sheet,\u201d said chief executive John Ketchum. \u201cThere might be less competition from folks that have not safe harboured.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The jump in renewables activity might be temporary. Analysts caution that the entire sector is facing an investment chill as developers and utilities pursue gas projects or focus their attention on other countries.<\/p>\n<p>In GE Vernova\u2019s results, chief executive Scott Strazik said that while its wind and solar business has seen an \u201cacceleration of activity\u201d, the bill is a \u201cbull case for gas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, analysts say that demand for renewables is likely to persist. According to Lazard, the cost of utility solar ranges from $38 to $78 per megawatt hour, compared with $48 to $109 per megawatt hour for gas. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the cost of gas turbines go up immensely in the past year,\u201d said Chris Dendrinos, a clean energy analyst at RBC Capital Markets. \u201cRenewables remain really, really competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/61bc431a-b12e-4555-84ce-27fb16cba2ac\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}