Even before President Donald Trump signed his tax and spending bill on the Fourth of July, Colorado lost two big renewable energy projects.
The talk surrounding the budget package caused uncertainty in the sector over how it could impact incentives and financing, analysts said, likely leading to the pause in the projects.
The new law speeds up the phase-out of incentives and tax credits approved in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump criticized as the “green new scam” during the 2024 presidential campaign. Tax credits for rooftop solar will go away at the end of this year and incentives for electric vehicles run out Sept. 30.
The bill also accelerates portions of the incentives for advanced manufacturing. Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, said renewable energy provisions in the budget bill will undercut development of the advanced manufacturing industry in the U.S.
“We’ve already seen things like the recent announcement about the Amprius battery factory in Brighton where the direct impact of this federal policy is already causing manufacturers to pull back on their investments and remove economic growth and jobs,” Toor said.
Amprius Technologies announced in 2023 that it would open a 775,000-square-foot lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Brighton that would employ about 330 people in the first phases. But in May, the California company told shareholders that it was pausing the project as it monitors “market dynamics.”
Amprius CEO Kang Sun said in a statement that while the company has completed the plant’s design, there are no immediate plans to move forward to the next phase. Producing cutting-edge battery technologies at scale in the U.S. requires “a highly capital-intensive process” and technical expertise that is still developing, he said.
“Meanwhile, other countries have spent years building mature, cost-efficient battery industries, giving them a significant head start,” Sun said.
The national organization Environmental Entrepreneurs, or E2, maintains that projects were canceled or put on hold leading up to the debate and approval of Trump’s budget bill because of the uncertainty around federal policy on renewable energy, incentives and funds. A report by the group said $15.5 billion in new factories and clean energy projects have been canceled across the country since Jan. 1 as the incoming administration signaled that changes were ahead.
E2 and Clean Economy Tracker release frequent updates on the renewable energy and advanced manufacturing industries.
Susan Nedell, senior advocate in the West for E2, believes the targeting of renewable energy incentives and programs played into the cancellation of plans to build a $250 million factory in Brighton to make solar panels.
VSK Energy Inc., a joint venture between India-based Vikram Solar and the private equity firm Phalanx Impact Partners and the development firm Das & Co., announced the project in 2023. At the time, Sriram Das, chairman of VSK Energy and managing director of Das & Co, called the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act “a landmark moment for the clean energy future of the United States.”
A spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the Brighton plant isn’t moving forward, but didn’t give a reason.
“In Colorado, as well as the nation, we’ll see more cancellations of big projects, more jobs lost, more layoffs, less investment in solar and wind because of the uncertainty,” Nedell said.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican whose district includes Brighton, said Amprius had been reconsidering the Brighton location since March, according to news reports, months before the text of the budget bill was released.
Evans joined most of his fellow Republicans in Congress to support the budget bill. However, the congressman’s spokeswoman, Delanie Bomar, and a spokeswoman for Pivot Energy, which develops solar and energy storage projects in Colorado, said Evans worked to ensure that renewable energy tax credits weren’t abruptly eliminated as some wanted and a proposed excise tax on wind and solar wasn’t imposed.
“As the representative for one of the highest energy producing districts in the country, I fought hard to protect the clean energy tax credits in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ and ensure the tax on clean energy was removed,” Evans said in a statement.
Toor, of the Colorado Energy Office, said the state remains committed to boosting the use of renewable energy and addressing climate change. “The underlying economics are still there. Wind and solar are both still highly competitive. Electric vehicles will still cut your fuel bill.”
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