Remember American infrastructure? something maybe about How bridges have been cracking across the United States and sometimes collapsing-either How our energy grid is an outdated disaster? Maybe something about how the Biden administration approved an $891 billion spending package largely dedicated to modernizing All the crumbling hardware that underpins the American economy, making it safer, fortified against extreme weather, and less of a contributor to greenhouse gases?
Well, sorry to say, the party is over. In a sign of how hostile the Trump administration has been toward its predecessor’s investment in a more sustainable, green economy, Chinese companies have squandered an estimated $2.8 billion on planned U.S. energy projects over the past year. According to new investigation More than half of China’s proposed plans for clean energy technology projects in the United States since 2022 have been paused, delayed or completely abandoned, according to analysts at the Rhodium Group.
“The political environment is becoming more restrictive,” as Margaret Jackson, a former senior adviser at the Biden-era Commerce Department, said. said Bloomberg.
Jackson, now a senior associate at the nonprofit Center for Strategic and International Studies, suspects that this inhospitable climate for green technology investment is unlikely to change even in the coming years. No rare script where Trump’s whims revolve in response to flattery.
“I’m not sure there’s much appetite underneath him to create room for more Chinese investment,” Jackson said.
Not exactly a solar-powered sunset
Rhodium analysts reported that the world’s three leading cleantech manufacturing regions, China, the United States and Europe, have withdrawn their commitments over the course of Trump’s first year in office, but China’s behavior was unique.
State intervention had once catapulted China’s domestic clean energy, battery and electric vehicle manufacturing sectors from $37 billion in 2018 to a hefty $189 billion in 2023, creating significant market dominance in some areas (such as solar power) but also an overcapacity problem.
However, even with lower total investment and a flight from American soil, China’s future plans for solar manufacturing infrastructure remain impressively monumental. Rhodium estimates that the nation has about 485 gigawatts of solar cell production capacity currently under construction domestically (or enough to power about 425 million additional Chinese homes annually), plus another 1.3 terawatts (1,300 gigawatts) of solar capacity announced but not yet commissioned. If all goes as planned, China will literally continue to double its solar energy production, according to Rhodium.
“The new policy focused on solar energy manufacturing and the electric vehicle supply chain is likely to emphasize maintaining China’s leadership position and closing remaining technology gaps and foreign dependencies,” as the group’s report indicates. published Wednesday, he concluded.
China’s solar sell-off in the US
The economic data reflects some starker anecdotal news documenting how China-based companies have withdrawn their solar energy stakes in communities across the United States. This month, for example, Chinese solar manufacturing giant JinkoSolar sold 75.1% of its stake in its US subsidiary to a private equity firm, which now run JinkoSolar’s 2 gigawatt (GW) solar panel production facility in Jacksonville, Florida.
Similarly, China’s Trina Solar shortly pledged a majority stake in its solar manufacturing facilities to a US company, T1 Energy. after Trump won the White House in 2024. And Beijing-based JA Solar, too sold its own 2 GW solar assembly plant in Arizona to Corning last July.
Much of this nervousness relates directly to the legal headaches of the Trump administration’s new Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC). restrictionsintroduced last year in that “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which imposes limits on the amount of Chinese ownership allowed for American energy projects.
While industry analysts said Reuters Although most Chinese manufacturers clearly maintain low-level financial footholds in their American factories, the clear consequence is more price increases and less clean energy across the United States for the foreseeable future as FEOC restrictions slow plans.
As Aaron Halimi, CEO of San Francisco-based utility developer Renewable Properties, explained to Reuters, “This will certainly continue to drive up the cost of energy in the United States.”
