By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” could be ugly for the solar industry.
Solar advocates say the legislative package includes a provision that could dismantle years of clean energy progress, harm workers, raise electric bills and jeopardize America’s future in artificial intelligence (AI) development.
At stake within the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” according to industry leaders, are over 260,000 solar jobs across the U.S., $140 billion in economic investments and 331 factories at risk of closing or never even opening.
From rooftops to rural farms, solar power now energizes more than just homes — it fuels an entire industry, but advocates warn that the sweeping legislative package making its way through Congress could cloud its future.
“The Big, Beautiful Bill that passed out of the House of Representatives has a dramatic and devastating cut to the solar and storage tax credits,” said Abigail Hopper, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Solar advocates say the legislation would effectively repeal solar and storage tax credits, which were designed to help bring down costs for various solar projects and manufacturing.
Hopper added that it could also mean slashing support for a technology that not only provides America’s cheapest electricity but that is also essential to powering data centers used to fuel the race for AI dominance.
“If we want to be American energy dominant, we have to be AI dominant. This bill undercuts our ability to do that,” said Hopper. “There won’t be enough electricity for those data centers, there won’t be enough electricity ready for us to win the race.”
She says consumers nationwide could face a $51 billion increase in electric bills over the next decade—about $100 per year, per family—as well as greater exposure to power shortages, particularly in rural America.
Hopper wants to see the Senate amend the bill and provide a more rational, business-conscious timeline to phase-out the tax credits– not what was included in the House-passed bill.
“Companies have spent billions of dollars building infrastructure here, and to change the rules on them with 60 days notice is just unconscionable,” said Hopper.
“As far as solar, I’m all for it. But it needs to survive on its own. I mean, we are running deficits of $2 trillion. We’ve got to be more frugal than we’ve been in the past,” said Congressman Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), who voted to pass the legislative package in May.
However, Meuser said he would support a more gradual phase-out of the credits over the next several years.
“I’m not for them being completely eliminated too quickly. They need to expire, as a set, over the next several years. So that needs to be moderated, it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t put businesses out of business,” said Meuser.
According to Hopper, if the reconciliation package passes the Senate without any changes, 8,600 jobs and 11 factories could be at risk in New York and 6,400 jobs and up to 20 factories in Pennsylvania.
“The House reconciliation package would reverse years of progress in our transition to renewable energy. It will hurt New York’s growing residential and commercial solar industry, kill local jobs, and raise energy prices for New Yorkers. Undermining clean energy projects that could have provided cheap electricity for decades is nonsensical, and I encourage my Republican colleagues to remove these cuts from their so-called Big Beautiful Bill,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY.) in a statement.
