Trump administration threatens 92 GW of new electricity supply with red tape

The Trump administration's permitting changes and federal funding withdrawals have led to the cancellation of 7 gigawatts of generating capacity on federal land in 2025, according to a study from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. This represents a significant setback for the clean energy industry, which is struggling to meet rising demand from AI data centers. The additional scrutiny could cancel another 12 gigawatts on federal land and 80 gigawatts on private property, further exacerbating the bottleneck in new generating capacity. The Wood Mackenzie report highlights the Trump administration's August 2025 order from U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, which sought to "rein in environmentally damaging wind and solar projects." This marked a shift from Burgum's previous tenure as governor of North Dakota, during which he oversaw an expansion of wind power and set a target for the state to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The broader context is that demand for electricity has been climbing in recent years, driven in part by the expansion of data centers to feed the AI boom. Data centers are expected to grow in number and scale in the coming decade, according to market forecasters at BloombergNEF, which will push up their electricity use nearly threefold by 2035. Meanwhile, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is requiring grid operators to offer a fast lane for grid connections, though it has done little to address the bottleneck in new generating capacity. This has led to tech companies forging their own paths by building their own power plants on-site, a trend that is likely to continue as the permitting delays persist.

The implications of this development are significant, as the permitting delays threaten to derail 92 gigawatts of clean power and affect over $121 billion in energy investment. This could lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbate the bottleneck in new generating capacity, particularly in regions with high demand for electricity. As the data center industry continues to grow, the need for clean energy solutions will only become more pressing. It remains to be seen how the permitting process will evolve in the coming years, but one thing is clear: the clean energy industry will need to adapt to these changing circumstances in order to meet the growing demand for electricity.