U.S. Solar Power Development has Soared in Trump 2.0, But Wind Has Fallen Off

Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

Summary

U.S. solar project activity has soared during the second Trump presidency while wind power project kickoffs and completions have slowed notably compared to those under his predecessors. How much of this reflects the president's well-known opposition to wind power and how much can be traced to the vicissitudes of solar and wind power project development?

Solar Soars During Second Trump Administration

President Donald Trump has long been demonized by the renewable energy community for his hostility to renewable energy and his embrace of fossil fuels. While Trump's words and deeds supporting fossil fuels are indisputable, data tracked by Industrial Info Resources show that on renewable energy, the story is mixed, and not as straightforward as it may seem.

In fact, Industrial Info Resources data show that the value and number of domestic solar power projects that began construction, and finished construction, has soared during the first seven quarters of the second Trump administration (from January 20, 2025 through September 30, 2026) compared to the same timeline in his predecessor administrations over the last 20 years.

"I think there will be a lot of people that will be surprised by this data," said Britt Burt, senior vice president of research for the Electric Power industry at Industrial Info Resources.

"People should not get too caught up in the data, because seven quarters is a little bit of an unusual interval to measure anything," he cautioned. "Also, it's likely that a fair number of projects began construction late in one presidency and were finished during a succeeding one. This is particularly true for projects that (were) delayed for whatever reason."

That said, a deep query of the Industrial Info Resources Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform for the first seven quarters of all presidencies since the second George W. Bush administration was revealing.

Industrial Info Resources data show that 362 U.S. solar projects, valued at about US$92 billion, began construction during the first seven quarters of the second Trump presidency. Between January 2025 and September 2026, the start of the second Trump presidency, IIR data showed that about 293 U.S. solar projects were completed. The value of those completed solar projects was approximately US$62 billion.

That's far more than the number and value of solar projects that began construction under the Biden, Obama and George W. Bush administrations. It's even higher than the number and value of solar projects that began turning dirt in the first Trump presidency.

In terms of solar power project kickoffs, about 329 began turning dirt during the Biden administration, 121 during the first Trump presidency and 59 during the second Obama administration. The value of those construction kickoffs was US$48 billion (under Biden), US$9 billion (under Trump 1.0) and US$11 billion under Obama 2.0.

In terms of the number of solar power project completions, Industrial Info Resources data show that 293 have reached the finish line during the second Trump administration compared to 213 for Biden, 118 for the first Trump administration and 51 in the second Obama administration.

The value of those solar power project completions has reached about US$62 billion during the first seven quarters of the second Trump presidency, far more than the value of what was completed under Biden (US$25 billion), Trump 1.0 (US$9 billion), and Obama 2.0 (US$15 billion).

By the Numbers

• 362: The number of U.S. solar power projects that started construction during the first seven quarters of the second Trump administration, far more than what began construction over a comparable period during his recent predecessors, including Trump's first term in office.
• 293: The number of solar power projects that have finished construction so far in the second Trump presidency, far more than what finished construction over a comparable period during the terms of his recent predecessors, including Trump's first term in office.
• 45: Number of U.S. wind farms that began construction so far in the second Trump presidency, far less than the number of projects that started construction under presidents Biden, Trump 1.0, and Obama 2.0 and 1.0.
• 18: The value, in billions of U.S. dollars, of windpower projects that finished construction so far in the second Trump presidency, far less than what was completed during the comparable terms of his recent predecessors.

Wind Power Project Activity Wanes

When it comes to wind power, however, a far different picture emerges. For 20 years, Trump has been a critic of windpower. Two decades ago, after purchasing property in Scotland on which he planned to build a golf course, he said offshore wind turbines interfered with the view of the ocean.

That aversion has continued through his first and second presidency. He has often been quoted in the news media expressing the view that wind farms, whether on land or in the water, are ugly, don't work and should not be allowed.

During Trump's second presidency, his administration offered to pay billions of dollars to the developers of permitted federal offshore wind projects to abandon their leases, providing they agreed to reinvest their federal proceeds in more traditional forms of energy, such as oil and gas production, pipelines and export terminals for liquefied natural gas (LMG). For more on that, see October 15, 2026, article - Trump Admin Continues Offshore Wind War with Revolution Wind Farm Permission Remand and August 12, 2026, article - DOI's $1.22 Billion Buyout of RWE Offshore Wind Farm Lease Is Year's Biggest.

Also, the Pentagon, presumably under orders from Trump, has essentially stopped processing applications for construction of wind generation near military installations. But that decision, which a federal court has struck down as unlawful, never applied to solar generation. For more on that, see August 12, 2026, article - Wind Power Wins Far-Reaching Federal Lawsuit Against Pentagon.

The opposition of the president has helped slow, but not stopped outright, windpower development.

During the first seven quarters of Trump 2.0, Industrial Info Resources data show that approximately 45 windpower projects valued at roughly US$14 billion began construction. That is far less construction starts that what took place under the Biden administration (79 projects worth about US$21 billion), Trump 1.0 (90 projects valued at US$25 billion) and Obama 2.0 (55 projects worth about US$17 billion).

In terms of project completions during seven-quarter periods, about 43 windpower projects were completed during Trump 2.0. The value of those projects was about US$18 billion.

By contrast, developers completed roughly 213 wind projects valued at about US$62 billion during the comparable period in the Biden administration. Project completions fell during the first Trump presidency, to 55 projects valued at approximately US$15 billion. During the first seven quarters of the two Obama administrations, developers completed a total of 106 wind farm projects valued at roughly US$23 billion, the data showed.

Data Only Part of the Story

IIR conducted this deep dive into its data platform to provide a fact-based, quantitative analysis of how wind and solar energy project development has progressed under Trump 2.0, then compare it to what happened during comparable terms of his predecessors, including his first administration.

But there are limits to what the data can tell.

The data analysis did not include wind or solar project cancellations or delays. Neither does it make an attempt to adjust for the effects of inflation, which averaged about 8% during 2022, when Biden was president. Nor did it take into account the deployment of battery energy storage systems (BESS), which have proliferated in recent years. The deployment of BESS is thought to be a support for intermittent renewable generation.

There can be hazards in assessing the record of renewables during any presidential administration, let alone during a portion of a presidency. Plus exogenous events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, trade wars and recessions can't be easily contained in one administration. Occasionally, federal tax credits for renewable energy have expired, slowing development.

For example, changes in control of the White House and Congress, while they can lead to sharp long-term shifts in renewable development, also have a certain lag time. For example, Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," signed in July 2025, ended federal tax subsidies for most types of renewable energy. But projects that began construction by July 2026 were grandfathered providing they finish construction by 2030. Eligible projects that are commissioned by July 2030 can reap up to 10 years of tax credits.

IIR's Burt noted that, "while whoever occupies the White House certainly is a non-trivial factor in the development of energy projects of all kinds, it is not the most significant factor either." Interest rates, state actions, court cases, the needs of utilities, technology advances, supply chains and the availability of skilled craft labor are some non-presidential factors shaping which projects get built, he said.

Finally, Burt noted that seven quarters does not a full presidency make. A conclusive statement about how wind and solar power development has fared under the current president will have to wait until he leaves office in January 2029, after the 2028 presidential election.

"The data will tell you a lot, but it is never the whole story," said Burt, who has tracked the power industry for over three decades. "Data can reveal as much as it obscures. But what is undeniable is that the conventional wisdom that Trump--that he opposes all forms of renewable energy--is just plain wrong. He doesn't like wind, certainly, but he appears to have more benign view about solar."

Key Takeaways

• U.S. solar power project activity has soared during the first seven quarters of the second Trump administration compared to his recent predecessors.
• The value of completed U.S. solar power projects also has risen sharply so far in Trump 2.0 compared to what was completed under Biden, Trump 1.0, Obama 2.0 and Obama 1.0.
• But domestic windpower project starts and completions, and the value of both, have sagged so far in the second Trump administration compared to his immediate predecessors.
• Although the data has its limitations, it does refute the conventional wisdom that the 47th president opposes all forms of renewable energy.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).