3 April 2025

TARIFFS

• President Trump’s widespread tariffs are set to make it harder to build power plants, transmission lines, nuclear power, and other energy infrastructure, and likely won’t serve his goal of cutting energy prices. (E&E News)
• Trump’s tariffs are likely to increase the cost of offshore wind turbine components, adding another obstacle for would-be wind farms. (New York Times)
• The White House exempts oil and gas imports from its new tariffs, though oil prices still fell on the news. (Reuters, Reuters)

GREEN BANK

• On the first day of hearings in nonprofits’ case against the U.S. EPA’s green bank clawback, a federal judge calls out the agency for failing to provide any evidence of wrongdoing justifying the program’s termination. (Politico)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Tesla shares rebound after dismal sales figures upon a report that Elon Musk may soon be leaving the White House to focus on his EV company, though both the White House and Musk denied his imminent departure. (CNBC)
• While new auto plants in the U.S. are largely focused on building EVs and batteries, their reliance on foreign components means Trump’s tariffs will still hurt the EV industry. (Politico)

DATA CENTERS

• The U.S. Energy Department has reportedly made a list of sites on federal land where it aims to encourage data center development and accompanying power generation and carbon capture. (Heatmap)
• Oil and gas transport company Energy Transfer, a top backer of Trump’s campaign, has received requests to power 70 new data centers since Trump took office. (The Guardian)
• The owners of what was Pennsylvania’s largest coal-fired power plant announce plans to build a $10 billion data center on the site, powered by a new seven-turbine natural gas-fired plant. (Associated Press)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Colstrip coal plant in Montana — one of the nation’s largest particulate polluters — asks the Trump administration to exempt it from Biden-era emissions limits, saying compliance would endanger the facility’s economic viability. (New York Times)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Democratic U.S. senators urge Energy Secretary Chris Wright to comply with the laws that require his department follow through on funding clean energy projects advanced before Trump took office, including hydrogen hubs. (Reuters)
• Ohio legislation to end all state solar subsidies and a Missouri bill to raise taxes on farmers who lease their land for renewable energy projects are part of growing opposition to renewables in GOP-led states. (Stateline)
• Aetherflux, a startup working beam solar power from space to the Earth, raises $50 million in venture capital funding. (TechCrunch)

STORAGE

• No large-scale battery storage system fires have released contaminants in levels that pose public health concerns or would require remediation, an American Clean Power Association examination of fires since 2012 finds. (Utility Dive)

POLITICS

• The DOE and other federal departments launch a second round of offers encouraging workers to resign. (Politico)