At a glance
- The same calendar year brought tax-credit phaseouts, a freeze on clean-energy permitting, and tariffs that Canary Media says are certain to raise the cost of solar.
- The column's exact figures are not in the public record, but the direction is clear: the resource mix under construction remains heavily weighted toward solar and storage even as Washington pulls the supports out from under the next wave of projects.
- Construction starts reflect capital decisions made years earlier, when subsidies were intact and module prices were lower.
Federal policy turned against new renewables in 2026, yet the construction pipeline has not caught up: solar and storage still dominate new U.S. power plant construction, according to Canary Media's Chart of the Week, published August 21.
The same calendar year brought tax-credit phaseouts, a freeze on clean-energy permitting, and tariffs that Canary Media says are certain to raise the cost of solar. The column's exact figures are not in the public record, but the direction is clear: the resource mix under construction remains heavily weighted toward solar and storage even as Washington pulls the supports out from under the next wave of projects.
Construction starts reflect capital decisions made years earlier, when subsidies were intact and module prices were lower. The policy reversal will most likely hit the projects that have not yet reached financial close — the ones still seeking permits, offtake, and debt. Watch the next quarterly count of new project announcements, not the current construction tally, for the real damage.
Reported by the Energy Transition desk from Canary Media. Published . Corrections