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Bureaucracy Is Strangling America's Clean Energy Buildout

News | 2026/07/11 02:00

Bureaucracy Is Strangling America's Clean Energy Buildout

Bureaucratic processes hinder clean energy development in the U.S.

According to JP Morgan, the U.S. has the world's worst permitting bottlenecks, while data center power demand is set to double by 2027. A report from Wood Mackenzie finds that $121 billion and 92 GW of renewable projects now face extra federal scrutiny:

Bureaucratic processes are choking clean energy innovation and expansion, particularly in the U.S., where long permitting timelines, a hostile political environment, and complex overlapping state and federal policies result in "generation capacity not coming online, grid upgrades not being delivered, and industrial facilities not being built":

All these inefficiencies show up as higher costs, tighter supply, and reduced resilience when needs are skyrocketing:

A recent report from Wood Mackenzie corroborates these statements, finding that the Trump administration’s anti-renewable policies have put over $121 billion of investment dollars at risk, with stalled permits for renewable energy projects slowing the development of much-needed wind, solar, and storage capacity:

While the policy environment is much more supportive for renewable energies in Europe, red tape remains a major issue across the Atlantic as well:

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