US Energy Department takes axe to wind and solar technology funding

The Department of Energy (DoE) is proposing to end funding for wind and solar technology programmes, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to stifle their development and clean energy more broadly, while restoring fossil fuels and nuclear power as a national priority.

The US government’s fiscal year begins on 1 October.

DoE did not budget for the office of wind energy, having allocated it $137m a year ago. It also did not budget for the office solar energy (versus $318m a year ago), renewable energy grid integration (down from $22m), and hydrogen and fuel cell technologies (down from $170m).

Funding is slashed for the office of waterpower from $200m to $90m, bioenergy from $275m to $70m, and vehicle technologies – mainly electric – from $450m to $25m. The office of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies also would take a deep cut from $215m to $70m.

EERE, whose brief is to fund and support energy innovation across sectors and technologies, was a leading vehicle within DoE under President Joe Biden to help advance his ambitious climate agenda. That made it an early and easy target for new Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, part of Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council.

Wright, a big proponent of geothermal energy, signed off on a proposed funding increase for that technology office from $118m to $150m.

Elsewhere, DoE proposes to eliminate the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, created under Biden, and end funding for the Office of Technology Commercialisation, also aligned with his climate agenda. Each received $20m in fiscal year 2025.

Also taking a sizeable budget hit is the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which historically has had bipartisan support in Congress. The proposed funding chop to $200m, down from $460m.

ARPA-E funds and directs the discovery of high-potential, high-impact outlier energy technologies that “can shift the energy landscape,” according to its website. Unlike EERE, this agency also funds technology in other spaces such as natural gas and grid technology, which apparently will be its focus under Wright.

While Wright is an outspoken supporter of DoE’s world-renowned network of national laboratories aiming to “unleash America’s energy innovation,” he is proposing a 14% cut in the Office of Science’s budget to $7.1bn.

“When it comes to our National Labs, we are capable of doing more with less,” said DoE in its budget brief. “We can both increase efficiency and drive innovation. We will prioritise earlier-stage research that supports true technological breakthroughs to maintain America’s global competitiveness.”

It’s not immediately clear to what extent the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) could be affected, assuming Congress approves DoE’s budget proposal without appreciable changes, which is unlikely.

Those alterations by majority Republicans may not provide much budget relief for wind and other non-emitting technologies, even if some funding is restored.