*** 8/14/25 - Economist - A new wave of clean-energy innovation is building - Donald Trump’s attacks on wind and solar will not stop it...........................
Buzz Sawyer
A new wave of clean-energy innovation is building
Donald Trump’s attacks on wind and solar will not stop it
Photograph: ScottLorenzen.comMAKE YOUR way around the busy warehouses of Torrance, near the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and you will find an unexpected sight. Dozens of electrified 18-wheelers belonging to Maersk, a Danish logistics firm, are hooked up to fast chargers. The lorries are tapping into electricity from linear generators, which are more efficient, and thus greener, than traditional rotating ones. These generators are the product of Mainspring, a Californian startup that has raised over $250m this year.
Its success may be surprising amid what seem like dark times for climate tech. Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) act, signed last month, stripped away subsidies for solar and wind power in America. Next week the Treasury Department is due to unveil tax guidance that will clarify just how damaging the law will be for these industries. Orsted, a Danish offshore-wind developer, saw its shares plunge on August 11th when it said that it would raise $9bn of equity to shore up its finances as Mr Trump’s aversion to the technology weighs on project valuations.
Chart: The EconomistLook past wind and solar, however, and the picture is brightening for other forms of green-energy innovation. Global equity funding for climate-tech firms plunged in 2023 amid rising interest rates. But investment has recently been climbing back up, rising by nearly 60%, year on year, in the first half of 2025, according to BloombergNEF, a data provider (see chart). There are good reasons to believe that the next few years will see the emergence of a new wave of innovative clean technologies.
The first cause for optimism is, strangely enough, the OBBB itself, which solidifies American support for certain novel energy technologies preferred by Republicans, even as it withdraws it for solar and wind. The law extends tax credits for, among other things, linear generators, geothermal energy, fuel cells, which can produce electricity using various possible fuels, and new types of nuclear power. Tim Latimer, the boss of Fervo, a startup based in Texas which uses fracking techniques to harness geothermal energy, notes that the law provides the long-term, bipartisan certainty his firm needs.
At a time when politicians have become increasingly concerned about energy security, such technologies have the added benefit of reducing dependence on imports, whether of oil, minerals or solar panels. That impulse is also strong in Europe, which wants to shed its reliance on Russian gas while continuing to decarbonise.
A final force behind the new wave of green-energy innovation is America’s tech giants, which are struggling to find sufficient power for their data centres. Rich Powell, head of the Clean Energy Buyers Association, which represents large power users with a green mindset, says that its members are “now investing in the next wave of climate tech”, having played a pivotal role in scaling solar and wind over the past decade. New forms of nuclear power are particularly popular among the tech firms; Amazon and Google have both signed deals with startups developing small-modular reactors.
Stationary fuel cells like those made by Bloom Energy, a Californian company that has seen its share price rise by over 80% this year, are another option. Last month it announced a deal to supply its technology to Oracle, a software company that is investing heavily in building cloud infrastructure. At a vast data centre in San Jose, banks of the fuel cells silently provide power that is not just cleaner but also more flexible and reliable than that of traditional generators. Before long such sights may well be commonplace. ■
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