Overview
- The Wood Mackenzie report, published Monday, found about $121 billion and roughly 92 gigawatts of early-stage wind, solar and storage projects now face heightened federal scrutiny after a July 2025 Department of the Interior memo expanded senior-official approvals.
- The DOI directive lengthened timelines by bringing more projects into multi-agency reviews such as Army Corps wetland permits and Department of Defense or FAA airspace checks, which has increased uncertainty for projects on both federal and private land.
- Technology exposure varies: Wood Mackenzie says about 30% of solar, 62% of wind (excluding the FAA halt), and more than a quarter of energy storage capacity in the early-stage pipeline are subject to extra review.
- The policy shift and related funding withdrawals contributed to about 7 GW of cancellations or stalls on federal land in 2025, and the analysis flags concentrated risks in Texas, California and Arizona that could push some 2029-timed projects past tax-credit deadlines.
- Legal and legislative responses have slowed further expansion of the rules but not cleared the backlog: a federal court issued a preliminary injunction in April 2026 and the House passed a SPEED bill in December 2025 that now awaits further action.