DAVID BLACKMON: Solar, Wind Might Not Be Totally Dead Under Trump

In an interview with Politico out this week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright pushed back against critics’ claims that the Trump administration’s policies will kill off the U.S. wind and solar industries.

“What we’re doing is not ending renewables,” Wright said. “The previous administration thought wind, solar and batteries were going to power the world. They’re not going to power the world. So, you just got to look at them in a more realistic context.”

This is it, exactly, and it’s a new reality that is forcing a rapid reassessment of the prospects for a real “energy transition” truly taking place in any currently living person’s lifetime. Reality, as it turns out, holds more sway over all the rosy talking points based on wishful thinking, command-and-control regulations and government subsidies combined can hope to achieve. This is because the laws of physics are actual laws, not mere suggestions or guidelines.

The central flaw in the recent push by central planning leftists to force a transition from true baseload electric generation powered by natural gas, coal and nuclear to the false promises and flawed premises of “green” energy proponents is that the alternative forms of energy they’ve forced taxpayers around the world to spend trillions of dollars to subsidize simply cannot do the job that needs to be done. It’s just reality – it’s how the world works, and how it doesn’t work. (RELATED: Trump Admin Steps Up Scrutiny Of Electronic, Solar Imports Over Chinese Slave Labor Concerns) 

But that reality doesn’t mean wind and solar have no place in a well-managed integrated power grid, as Wright points out. It just can’t be the place their proponents advocate if the grid is to be stable and reliable.

Wright’s comments to Politico about the future viability of solar power seems more than a little at odds with President Trump’s own remarks made in a Truth Social post a day after the Politico interview was published.

“Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS,” Trump wrote, adding, “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA”

Contrast that to another statement about solar by Sec. Wright to Politico: “Its fundamental viability in a subsidy-free world is much better than wind, and we’ll continue to see growth in solar,” Wright said.

So, some reconciliation of the diverging administration narratives seems advisable. Be that as it may, Wright’s point still seems wise, and market forces – which Trump’s policies cannot override – are likely to continue supporting an expanding solar industry for the foreseeable future, though at a slower pace than the last few years. Wind’s future is more troubled for many reasons, as Wright also points out, most of which has to do with its prodigious land use and non-viability without a constant flow of additional subsidies.

Wright’s interview came during a site visit to one of the 17 national energy laboratories under the Energy Department’s purview in Ames, Iowa. Because Iowa obtains a high percentage of its power from wind, both U.S. Senators there – Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, both Republicans – have pressured the administration to ensure wind and solar projects already under construction will retain access to the Biden-era federal subsidies that are now being phased out under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump on July 4.

“There are a number of projects that have been planned already, and we would like to see those continue to qualify,” Ernst said.

The IRS enforcement guidance released last week by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seems to have satisfied that concern, protecting projects already under construction and applying only to those that commence construction on or after Sept. 2. Those projects must begin construction work of a significant nature on or before July 4, 2026, to remain qualified for the subsidies as they are phased out.

Projects failing to demonstrate that they’re under construction by then will have to live in a subsidy-free world. From that point on, wind and solar won’t be exactly dead, but they may require a good deal of life support, which they won’t find from the Trump administration.

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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