On the Ground at ACP CLEANPOWER 2025: What You Need to Know About Clean Energy in 2025

What a time to attend the annual CLEANPOWER conference hosted by the American Clean Power Association (ACP)! As a former reporter, I was in my element taking notes and gathering quotes at the conference — and there was no shortage of either. The closing session kicked off just hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed its aggressive tax bill ending most clean energy tax incentives, but ACP’s Jason Grumet told the audience, “We have reasonable faith the Senate is with us on phasing out tax credits in a steady way.” More on that below.

Over the four days of CLEANPOWER, tax credits and tariffs loomed over conversations, but this was met with an equally exhilarating energy for how clean energy can meet massive load growth with its unique speed-to-power. In fact, one of the best jokes overheard at the conference positioned “renewables as the bridge to natural gas,” which currently has a 5+ year wait time for new turbines.

The feel of the entire conference was largely optimistic. Running through each conversation was a sense of determination — not just to grow business, but to power America’s prosperity and AI leadership with clean energy.

Here are some of the highlights, organized by theme:

American Energy Dominance:

·       Jason Grumet paraphrased a Winston Churchill quote about how “security is variety.” This was echoed by FERC Commissioner Lindsay See’s characterization of clean power arming us with “all the tools in the toolbox” to meet soaring energy demand and defend America’s place as an AI leader.

·       John Hensley, ACP, brought the receipts — irrefutable data about clean power’s central role in American growth, including a statistic about America needing to add “two more Texases to the grid” in the next 10 years. That’s a lot of power, and we can’t do it without renewables.

·       As the CEO of a major utility, Chris Womack of Southern Company brought a powerful message: “There will be power, and it will be all of the above,” he said. To ensure the U.S. is the tech leader of the world, “renewables must be part of the solution,” going on to acknowledge the major supply constraints in natural gas (also noted by NextEra at CERAWeek).

Investment:

·       Steven Mandel, TPG Rise Climate, assured an overflowing crowd at an investment talk, “We continue to invest, our outlook is positive.” He acknowledged investors need more certainty, but certainty is coming, which “allows us to make longer-term deals.”

·       “Good projects will be built,” added Zach Gross, J.P. Morgan.

·       Jon Windham, UBS, got the crowd’s attention with his comment about renewables looking more attractive to investors thanks to the sheer power demand of data centers and other sources: “Load growth is going to flip the switch [from clean energy companies being] highly investible opportunities to must-own stocks.”

·       A sidenote, but important: a few investor speakers remarked on the need for investment in domestic manufacturing of batteries, and one predicted more “take-privates” after the SPAC boom in recent years.

Tax Credits:

·       A panel about tax credits, which were changing by the hour in the U.S. House, focused on how the Senate will revise the House version of the bill, which could have some important changes for the clean power industry. The Senate bill should be finalized before the August recess.

·       Michael Catanzaro, who served as Special Assistant to President Trump on the White House National Economic Council, explained the timing. Republicans “need a boost to investor confidence from these tax cuts after the trade rattles” of the past few months.

·       Also motivating the Senate is Treasury guidance that Congress must take action to raise or suspend the federal government debt limit by mid-July.

·       NEPA permitting reform is not likely in the Senate version of the bill because of the Byrd Rule limiting non-budgetary items in reconciliation.

The uncertainty of the tax credits, tariffs, and general news cycle will surely continue. Companies should be contacting Senators in all districts where they do business. The general public should be writing Congress about their support of these critical incentives.

But certainty is coming, and by the next big U.S. industry event, RE+, we’ll have a sharper vision on how we’ll continue the massive growth of this industry, which invested $70B in our economy in 2024 and is projected to create 6 million jobs and $500 billion in economic growth over the next decade.

I’m cribbing the wise words of Laura Beane, Vestas North America, to close out this post. After urging the audience to stay focused and not get distracted by the chaotic news cycle, she reminded us that clean power is the “story of us,” “powered by people,” and “we are the narrators.” She’s right about that — as we humanize the story, we build more trust as we build the future of American abundance.