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A massive round of renewable energy whack-a-mole is under way in the US, where President Donald Trump has been paying (some say bribing) wind industry stakeholders to walk away from their federal offshore leases, while right behind his back a torrent of solar power continues to flood the US grid with clean kilowatts. In the latest development, the leading solar-plus-storage firm Origis Energy has nailed down a massive haul of $900 million in new financing to accelerate its activities, bringing its total to more than $1.4 billion over the past three months.
Oh The Irony, It Burns
You can say that again. Oh the irony, it burns. In his desperation to score a win, any win against the steady march of decarbonization, Trump has taken the highly unusual (and possibly illegal) step of throwing billions of taxpayer dollars away on re-purchasing offshore wind leases, even as private sector dollars keep flowing into the solar industry.
Origis Energy is a case in point. The firm states that it has more than 20 gigawatts of solar and storage projects in its pipeline, include near-term projects totaling 5 gigawatts. If that sounds like a lot, it is. The activity level was much lower just 24 months ago. Origis has quadrupled its operations in the period leading up to and following Trump’s return to office last year, despite the sudden shift in federal energy policy.
