The current shadow of uncertainty the Trump administration has cast over the state of renewables in the U.S. was a noted concern at CLEANPOWER 2025, but the experts and insiders refused to let it darken the real results that renewables have created, as well as the potential future they continue to inspire.
CLEANPOWER 2025 brought nearly 9,000 attendees and 500 exhibitors to Phoenix, Arizona, May 19-22, to see the latest renewable-energy innovations and hear experts from all sides of the sector emphasize the gains of the last year, as well as discuss an optimistic — yet cautious — look at what’s next on the horizon.
“In energy policy, pragmatism always eventually wins,” said Jason Grumet, president of the American Clean Power Association. “There’s a reason why we built more wind power in the Trump administration than the Biden administration, and we produced more oil and gas in the Biden administration than the Trump administration. But erratic policy has a real cost. It has a cost to consumers, to companies, and obviously to the communities that are thriving with new energy jobs and investment.”
Investment is Soaring
To that end, Grumet, during his CLEANPOWER Opening General Session address, was quick to point out that investment in renewables is soaring, with 400,000 workers employed by the industry, 120,000 working in the manufacturing sector, and more than a million other jobs supported by the energy supply chain.
“These are good jobs; these are family-sustaining jobs,” he said. “The report that we released (in May) indicates that the average salary in clean-energy manufacturing is $118,000 a year, and we have 200 facilities operating as we speak; 90 of them have just come out in the last two and a half years, and 45 more are under construction. Last year alone, all of you, all of us, this industry, invested over $80 billion in American energy infrastructure and manufacturing, so we are bringing it to the American economy.”
But investment isn’t the only bright spot as renewables move forward, according to Grumet.
“Innovation in America is unstoppable,” he said. “We have made remarkable progress in the last 20 years in fossil-energy and renewable-energy production. All technology has weaknesses, but they’re different weaknesses, and what we understand now is we can combine the collective strength of all the different ways that we produce power in this country. We can, in fact, achieve the goal by mid-century of an energy economy that is reliable, affordable, secure, and clean.”
Arizona’s Energy Grid
Part of that diverse energy thinking was what brought CLEANPOWER to Phoenix, Arizona, according to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“Arizona prides itself on our reliable, diverse energy grid, where homes have large-scale solar plants and wind farms across the state,” she said. “We have the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, which is the largest nuclear power plant in the country. We also boast a large energy-storage capacity. We’ve seen significant growth in battery storage. Multiple new battery storage projects came online last year. We are a major energy hub in the West, providing energy to neighboring states and Canada.”
Because of Arizona’s position as a reliable, powerful energy producer, the state has become a center of American manufacturing resurgence, according to Hobbs.
“About 30 miles north of (Phoenix), TSMC Arizona is producing the most advanced semiconductor chips made in America,” she said. “Their investment has grown from $65 billion to now $165 billion with their recent $100 billion announcement. This demonstrates our capacity to produce the energy to meet high demand. Other major manufacturers, like Honeywell, Boeing, LifeCycle, and Lucid, continue to thrive here. From electric vehicles to batteries to military technology and public safety tools, companies of all shapes and sizes are taking advantage of our reliable and resilient grid.”
In order to continue to take advantage of these energy opportunities, Hobbs said she recently signed legislation that would advance clean power while removing some of the backstops that could attempt to stop it.
“I signed securitization legislation making it easier for utilities to transition to a cleaner grid,” she said. “It allows them to manage debt during transition without passing these costs onto consumers. It will save Arizona families money on their energy bills and create more jobs in our clean-energy economy.”
U.S. Grid Challenge
Even with Arizona’s positive approach to the energy grid, the country as a whole will need to step up — sooner rather than later.
“I don’t want to hyperbolize too much, but America’s grid is facing a … monumental challenge,” said John Hensley, senior vice president, markets and policy analysis at American Clean Power. “Today, the U.S. consumes around 4,300 TW/h of electricity annually, but in just a decade, that number is going to skyrocket to 5,139 TW/h. That’s another 900 TW/h of new electricity. That’s like adding two more Texases to our grid, and it doesn’t stop there.”
In the next decade, 500 TW/h will be lost due to older power plants retiring, while the total net electricity demand will be 1,300 TW/h by 2035, according to Hensley.
“Just for some perspective, that’s like building a third of our electric grid all over again, meaning that will require a space program like Apollo,” he said. “We are going to need to build 850 GW of new power capacity in this country. What does that look like? It’s more than 175 GW of wind power, more than 475 GW of solar, a 100-plus GW of natural gas, and another 120 GW of battery storage — not to mention the nuclear, geothermal, and other advanced energy technologies that are going to have to be part of the equation.”
But growing the energy grid is not without its challenges, according to Laura Beane, president of Vestas North America and ACP board chair.
Unexpected Challenges
Even though Beane said she was aware of the political environment she was inheriting as ACP board chair, she admitted that she has still been surprised by what the energy sector has been facing since the current administration has taken the governmental reins.
“I was engaged with our customers, working to plan and execute wind-turbine orders for their developing projects,” she said. “The chair-elect is essentially chair-in-waiting, and when I accepted, I was cognizant that the timing was such that I would be stepping into the actual chair role for 2025. I, of course, recognized the reality of the ever-changing political dynamic in this country, but I must admit that I did not quite envision that we would find ourselves here. When you scroll through another social media post or see another headline where wind or solar or storage is being disparaged or attacked, I think it’s natural to feel like the story of clean energy is being shaped by far-away actors or forces that seem against us, and it can feel isolating.”
However, Beane said there is reason to be encouraged.
“The clean-energy industry doesn’t have a single narrator,” she said. “It’s built on thousands of stories, like yours. Your voices and your stories are the prevailing force that’s moving this industry forward.”
Real-World Examples
As examples of this, Beane pointed out that the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm built in Benton County, Indiana, brought in tax revenue that allowed that area to hire paramedics and other trained medical personnel who could quickly be accessed by residents to provide life-stabilizing support while being transported to a hospital where none existed previously.
In Southwest Florida, after the region was struck by Hurricane Ian in 2022, streets were flooded, grocery stores were shuttered, and hospitals ran on backup generators. But, in Babcock Ranch, power stayed on, thanks to the FPL Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center and FPL Babcock Preserve Solar Energy Center.
“For the people in Babcock Ranch during Hurricane Ian, it delivered security, stability, and safety during a disaster,” Beane said.
And battery storage stepped up during a blistering Texas heat wave in 2023, when the state endured one of the longest and hottest summers on record.
“Power demands surged as millions of Texans cranked up their air conditioning — not just for comfort, but for safety,” Beane said. “Because of a surge in storage capacity, the grid did not buckle. Quietly, without fanfare, energy storage stepped in, keeping homes powered.”
None of these stories, according to Beane, would exist without the industries represented at CLEANPOWER.
“You are the clean-energy industry, not somebody watching or criticizing from the sidelines, but somebody doing the hard work when nobody is watching or listening,” she said. “Yes, the headlines can be painful, and the politics are messy. But when people question clean energy’s reliability, you have proof. When they question its value, you have lived experience saying otherwise.”
Energy Diversity
In order to meet America’s energy requirements, not just its goals, diversity will be key, according to Grumet.
“Winston Churchill said that security lies in variety and variety alone, and the data says that’s true today in the regions of this country that have the most diverse energy supply, where reliability is by far the strongest, and the cost of business and consumers are the lowest — and the energy sector gets this,” he said. “It’s why we are all aligned in support of a true ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy. I point out a lot that we’re in this together. Two-thirds of all of the renewable power deployed in the United States of America is being built by companies that also have fossil assets. And we take very seriously the shared commitment across the electric sector to have affordable, reliable, clean power.”
To that end, ACP is working with its partners in oil and gas and nuclear to ensure the country has a permanent system that is not just efficient, but trustworthy, according to Grumet. That means a stable technology-neutral tax policy that will continue to support investment.
“But above everything, we are focused on skyrocketing demand,” he said. “The challenge of adding two Texases to our electricity grid in the next 10 years, it focuses the mind, but it also raises the stakes for public policy. For the last two decades, we’ve basically had flat growth, and that has allowed us to accommodate bad policy. It’s allowed us to keep the lights on despite the fact that our government shifts back and forth, picks the technologies it likes, and discourages the technology that it doesn’t. That’s against the parts of the American economy. But we can’t do that anymore. Over the next decade, we have to maximize renewable energy deployment. We have to add new gas to the grid. We have to commercialize advanced nuclear. We’ve got to try to realize the potential with geothermal, and we’re going to have to extend the operating life of existing facilities.”
U.S. vs. China
The next three years are going to determine whether it’s the U.S. or China who wins the race for digital dominance, according to Grumet.
“We are the guys who are shovel ready,” he said. “The power that can come on the grid in the United States of America in the next three years is almost entirely renewable resources, and this is the worst possible moment to take power away from the people. Despite these fundamentals, economics, and engineering, every change in politics ushers a new game of energy green light/red light. There’s a part of the cancel culture we don’t talk about. It is a cancel culture that makes any long-term investment in America a risk and undermines global confidence in the idea that the United States is the place to do business.”
But there is a positive side, according to Hensley: This is the moment clean power was built for.
“Last year, 93 percent of all new generation added to the grid was clean,” he said. “That’s $70 billion of investment in our economy supporting 1.4 million American jobs, 80 percent of which are in Republican districts. We’ve also just built 45 new manufacturing facilities with another 180 facilities on the way. That’s in a domestic supply chain that’s in motion today, driving us toward half-a-million clean-energy manufacturing jobs by 2030.”
And between now and 2030, the U.S. is looking at the largest build-out of energy infrastructure in American history, according to Hensley.
“Demand is growing; power plants are retiring, and we have the technologies that can rise to meet the moment,” he said. “Solar, we think, is going to lead, and (battery) storage, once a niche market, is scaling very quickly.”
The wind market has hit some permitting challenges and regulatory issues, but Hensley predicts the wind sector to rebound. “We expect that technology to hit double digits by the end of the decade, and offshore wind is defending itself from all sides at the moment,” he said. “We’ll see nearly 10 GW installed by decade’s end, but none of this is guaranteed. Federal tax uncertainty, tariffs, regulatory challenges, permitting delays, and a tremendous lack of investment in our transmission infrastructure could, of course, slow our progress. We have to solve these issues not later, but today.”
Good News
But there are signs of good news among the discouragement, according to Grumet.
“We’re greatly encouraged by the news (recently) that the Trump administration and New York Governor (Kathy) Hochul have come together on a plan that will bring 1,500 men and women back to the job site on the entire Empire Wind project,” he said. “This is a one and done. What’s most encouraging about that discussion is it seems like it is opening up the idea of critical infrastructure of all kinds in New York and around the country. And that is the only way we win, so I think we’re all going to be looking at that announcement and making sure that it actually applies broadly across all energy technology.”
Despite the constant push and pull on Capitol Hill, Grumet said the energy sector can set an innovative course as long as it stays diligent.
“While we’re making progress, it’s tough out there,” he said. “There are strong signals of pragmatism among the core group of senators who appreciate that we are going to have to make changes in energy policy — that the clean-energy credits and a lot of the energy credits in this energy package are going to be phasing down, but they’re committed to doing it in a way that protects jobs, protects the economy, and protects the country. We are working closely with those members, talking about specific fixes in legislation that will save the taxpayers money, but will do so in a way that does not undermine the progress that we are making as a nation on clean energy.”
Economic Ping Pong
The momentum is there, according to Grumet, and he is quick to point out that challenges can and will be overcome.
“But our country deserves better than a Congress that plays ping pong with our economy and our security,” he said. “We’ve got some work to do together … Democracy and advocacy are a team sport, and so I need you all to be loud. I need you to tell anyone who will listen — and a lot of people who won’t — about the role that our industry is having on your communities, on your families, on your businesses. And while politicians are going to continue to try to divide us, I’m asking and urging you to avoid being pulled into the old arguments of division that pit one type of energy against the other. Because we all know the truth: America has to embrace all forms of domestic energy. We can’t leave it in the ground. We can’t leave it in the reactor. We can’t leave it in the river. We can’t leave it in the sun. We can’t leave it in the wind. We need it all. And clean power is going to lead the way.”
