Winner of the November 5 election, eight years after his previous success, Donald Trump has yet to formally return to the White House and is already plunging the renewable energy sector back into uncertainty, if not concern. This is true in your country, but also, to a lesser extent, in Europe.
Will Joe Biden’s future successor as US president suspend any new offshore wind projects after his inauguration on January 20, 2025? He made the threat during the campaign, invoking, without supporting scientific evidence, the need to protect whales from potential harm.
And what about the Inflation Reduction Law? (IRA), this law enacted in August 2022 to promote, among other things, local manufacturing of technologies such as wind and solar? The billionaire from the conservative camp has said it again and again: he intends to face this gigantic plan of tax credits and subsidies (in principle, about 370 billion dollars in ten years, or 349 billion euros). “a new green scam” be totally or partially eliminated, depending on their vision of things, which pays little attention to the fight against climate change.
In the stock market, uncertainty had an initial effect. Reflection among investors, on November 6, the day after the elections: the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, an index of American companies that revolve around “clean” energy, registered a drop of up to 6.7%, according to Bloomberg. And this, especially in the field of solar panels: in September, the Republican Party candidate declared himself a “big fan” of these panels… before expressing reservations about their use of the land.
European companies want to reassure
In addition to electric vehicles, Trump has especially fueled criticism of offshore wind projects. However, these projects (“awful”in their words) depend on federal approval. This is a cause for concern even in Europe, where the sector has leading players, also in exports. “Taking into account the results” electoral, “Risks for offshore wind projects have increased” on the other side of the Atlantic, German promoter RWE acknowledged on November 12. Engie is leading three projects of this type, without having yet started the construction phase. In the event of a blockage, the French energy company estimates that the depreciation will be less than 400 million euros. A question mark also affects cable manufacturers. “Because the deployment of renewable energies determines the size of the electrical network to be connected,” recalls Michel Gioria, general delegate of the professional organization France Renouvelables.
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