Seamus Fitzgerland hears a lot of opinions about solar power. As the assistant director of real estate at Onenergy Renewables, a solar developer, is close to farmers and other landowners throughout the Middle West with proposals to rent their real estate for solar projects. Some landowners are excited that they are part of turning into clean energy. Others are hostile to the idea of placing rows of shine panels on their soil.
Fitzgerald managed to persuade many farmers by explaining the simple economy to rent their lands for solar energy. He said: “At the end of the day, the financial payments of these types of projects are generally higher, which people can withdraw from their land through other types of crops.” To sell solar energy to people who may have a frequency, it often talks about how technology He invented in America. “When you install a solar project, an American resource gathered here in America,” said Fitzgerald.
He repeats the way President Donald Trump speaks about energy, although he usually praises American oil and gas, not renewable energy sources. However, the Solar Energy Industries Association, the initial pressure group in the industry, has found many ways to align its work with the talk points in the administration. Now float Through its websiteBesides an image of an American flag hovering over the solar panels, it is a new logo: “American energy dominance”. Earlier this month, the association participated The pressure raid in Washington, DCUrging legislators to maintain the tax credits of the applicable clean energy projects.
Solar provided Almost 6 percent Of the total power generation in the United States last year, but it was expected to grow quickly.Almost all growth“In the generation of electricity this year, according to the Energy Information Administration before Trump. Many hope that this technology – which is very popular with Americans, with 78 percent Supporting the development of more solar farms – it can be able to stay away from Trump’s cultural wars on climate change. More than wind energy with its tall turbines, solar energy has the ability to bridge ideological divisions, attract environmental protection advocates and “Do not wander” Libertarion both.
“President Trump specifically said that he loves solar energy – and with the high demand for energy, we know that solar energy is the most efficient way and affordable to add a lot of energy to the network, quickly.” The president of the association and the CEO, in a statement to Jurist.
In December, she released her commercial group Political Road Map This reflects the Trump agenda, with priorities such as “eliminating dependence on China” and “cutting the red strip in the energy sector”. It is a change from the association vision It was placed in 2020 After the election of former President Joe Biden, when Hopper is I promised “Meet the moment of climate age with stocks and justice in the foreground.”
The new language reflects a change in the priorities of the federal government, but also a recognition of solar energy defenders that they do not need to talk about climate change to enhance clean technologies. “Energy independence – I think they should shout from the roofs of the houses,” said Fitzgerald. “Every single politician in the world, in America, must say,” We are trying to make these things here to collect energy here. “
How to take climate change from culture wars
Last year, solar energy is more than 80 percent From the ability to generate the new electricity that was added to the American network. But some expect slowing down. The shares of the solar energy industry decreased After Trump’s election in November, investors speculated that Republicans might cancel the tax credits of solar energy in the law to reduce inflation, the Climate Law signed in 2022. A report from the Data Analysis Company Wood McKenzi Solar facilities are expected to be active in many countries due to “uncertainty after elections, incentives for decline, energy sector reforms, and the shift towards less ambitious climatic business schedules.”
“The bottom line is all that adds to the uncertainty in the market to one of the fastest growing sectors in our economy, and there is nothing more important for companies and investors than the market clarity,” said Bob Kevie, CEO of E2, a non -partisan organization. Promote beneficial policies for the economy and the environment. “Now, what Washington is doing regarding the future of clean energy in America is clear like a snowstorm in the capital in the middle of the night.”
Trump has complained of wind energy since then The marine wind farm threatened the virgin view of the golf stadium in Scotland Soon after he bought it in 2006, on his first day in office this year, he stopped new permits for wind projects in land and federal waters. But the position of his management of solar energy is unclear: He ascended on how the solar farms take over the deserts while he says at the same time it is a “Big fan” From technology. How to say: “I think it is more suitable for solar energy, but who knows? And who knows how long?”
The Trump administration’s attack on the federal bureaucracy is already to solar energy projects. The administration has blocked the federal grants to climate programs, including solar energy for all, a $ 7 billion program to bring in residential solar energy to low -income neighborhoods, despite the court’s orders to release financing. “We see real delays in obtaining this money from the door for the projects that need to do so,” said Sasho Constantine, CEO of Solar, a non -profit organization that makes solar energy available.
“Most of the solar energy for all projects” still try to move forward, “said Michel Rose, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Network, a group of graduates from the Environmental Protection Agency, despite the continued uncertainty,.
Andy Bokanan / AFP via Getty Images
Through some measures, culture wars began to infringe on Americans’ opinions on solar energy. Republican support for new solar farms fell from 84 to 64 percent between 2020 and 2024, according to Playing last year from the Pew Research Center. Wrong information campaigns targeted increasingly clean energy, which prompted the idea that solar energy and winds are not reliable – a line that citizens deal with responsible solar energy, a group led by one of the conservative outlets that operate To stop solar energy projects in agricultural land and Timberland.
There are some correct reasons that make people hesitate in technology, according to Dustin Molvani, a professor of environmental studies at San Jose State University who is looking into conflicts over solar developments. People may be concerned about the projects that handle the main agricultural lands, cut animal habitats, or affect the original cultural sites. Molvani said accurate planning can help avoid these conflicts. Solar farms can coexist with sheep, for example. It can be built in a way that leaves the distance between the paintings For deportation of antelope pronghornIn general, it avoids the precious areas in favor of developing projects.Low -impact sites“Like degraded lands.
Mulvaney pushes back against the narration that these concerns slow the solar power, on the pretext that most projects do not face any resistance at all. Facilities in the United States On the right track to achieve their goals to turn to 100 percent of renewable energy by 2060He pointed out. “For me, the fastest way to get more solar energy is to order facilities to buy more of them sooner.”
Regardless of what Trump is doing, clean energy defenders hope that solar energy projects will continue to move forward at the state level. “We feel satisfied with the future of clean energy in our states in the southeast,” said Mark Fleming, President and CEO of Conservatives for clean energy. “As you know, we are not talking about it in terms of the environment – we are talking about it in terms of choice and competition in the market and in terms of good economics, because the price of solar energy is declining quickly.” Over the past decade, the cost of fixing solar energy has decreased by about 40 percent, According to the Association of solar energy industries.
Constantine says that talking about the benefits of solar energy – whether by creating job opportunities, reducing power outages, or paying electricity prices down – is the key to overcoming hostility. Constantine said: “It is a way to reduce costs, and in the era of high energy costs and real disk in pocket books for people, I think this is a message that resonates.” “When you talk about the ability to withstand costs, flexibility, and reliability, people get it.”
Naveena Sadasivam has contributed to this story.