Wood Mackenzie reduces 5-year US Wind Energy Outlook by 40% due to Trump policies

On Tuesday, a prominent energy research company slashed their five-year forecast for new U.S. Wind Energy Projects by 40%, citing Trump Administration policies and concerns over the economy.

Wood Mackenzie predicts that the United States will install 45.1 gigawatts (both onshore and off-shore) of wind power through 2029. The firm had initially forecast 75.8 GW of installations over this period.

The Energy Information Administration announced last month that the U.S. electricity consumption will reach record levels in 2025 and beyond. This year, it is up nearly 3% from its previous high of 2024, amidst a growing demand for data centers dedicated exclusively to artificial intelligence.

Before President Donald Trump issued his order in January to stop new federal leasing and permits for wind turbines, he had already seen a decline in wind energy in the United States. He called wind turbines ugly and expensive, and harmful to wildlife.

"We won't do the wind thing." Windmills that are big and ugly. "They ruin your neighborhood," said he. Joe Biden, former president of the United States, saw wind power vital to his strategy to decarbonize the U.S. energy sector in order to combat climate change.

In the United States, the wind market shrank to its lowest level in the last decade in 2018, with a total of 5.2 GW installed compared to 7 GW by 2023. In 2021 and 20, wind installations were almost twice as high, ahead of an expected expiration date for the federal tax credit on clean energy. This was extended by a decade with the Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022.

Stephen Maldonado, Wood Mackenzie's research analyst, said that while the market is expected to recover, the uncertainty surrounding future US wind policies and economic pressures are likely to limit growth in the short-term, despite the sustained demand for electricity. (Reporting and editing by Nichola Goller; Reporting by Nichola Goller).

(source: Reuters)