Clean Economy Works: Q1 2026 Analysis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

Clean energy developers announced more than 50 new utility-scale generation and storage projects in the first quarter of this year—nearly double the number of active projects announced in all of 2025— continuing a rush to start construction on solar and wind projects ahead of a looming July 4 deadline for tax incentive eligibility imposed by last year’s federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA).

 

According to new data analyzed by E2, businesses plan to invest more than $18 billion in the 54 projects announced in the January-March period. Combined, the projects would be able to generate over 12 gigawatts (GW) of badly needed new electricity that could power about two million homes - reaffirming solar, wind and storage as the nation’s biggest suppliers of new electricity and the cheapest, fastest-to-deploy new power sources available.

 

Still, actions by the Trump administration and Congress to ban clean energy permits, eliminate tax incentives and defund programs tied to clean energy continue to take a marked toll on U.S. electricity supplies and prices, and the overall economy. The pace of new clean energy project announcements continues to dramatically slow versus the surge from 2022-2024, and project cancellations continue to increase, according to E2’s latest “Clean Economy Works” report.

 

• Fifty-four new utility-scale announcements is almost double the number of active projects announced in all of 2025.

 

• Thirty-eight new solar, wind and battery power plants were canceled by developers in Q1 2026, compared with 85 cancellations during all of 2025.

 

• Projects canceled in Q1 would have generated nearly 8 GW of new electricity – enough to power 2 million to 3 million homes, or as many homes as there are in Louisiana, Kentucky or Maryland. By comparison, 13 GW of projects were canceled throughout all of 2025.

 

• The projects canceled in Q1 would have resulted in nearly $13 billion in local investments and would have created or supported 33,000 construction jobs. About $27 billion in investments and 45,000 jobs were lost to abandoned projects across all four quarters of last year. Clean energy related factories and manufacturing projects also continued to decline in Q1.

 

According to E2’s analysis:

 

• Companies canceled, closed, or downsized seven manufacturing projects in Q1 2026 that together would have resulted in nearly $1.35 billion in new investments and 8,100 new jobs in states including Oklahoma, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia.

 

• Overall investments slowed sharply, with only 12 new major manufacturing projects announced in Q1, totaling approximately $758 million and nearly 2,000 jobs — a pace far below previous years. In 2023-2024, for instance, companies announced more than 60 new clean energy factories each quarter on average. 

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