Michael Thomas
@michael-thomas.bsky.social
4.6K followers 190 following 410 posts
I write stories and make videos about climate change. Subscribe to the Distilled newsletter and YouTube channel here: http://linktr.ee/distilled.earth
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michael-thomas.bsky.social
I just published a story with @emorwee.bsky.social about the latest Senate bill.

The bill is much worse than climate advocates thought possible.

The window to stop it is rapidly closing. But to do that climate advocates need to speak up.

www.distilled.earth/p/urgent-the...
URGENT: The Latest Senate Bill Is Worse Than Climate Advocates Thought Possible
The bill could pass the Senate in the next 24 hours
www.distilled.earth
Reposted by Michael Thomas
emorwee.bsky.social
It’s so important to understand WHY the new Senate bill has such drastic provisions to kill renewable energy

Fossil fuel industry lobbyists and Big Oil-funded activists have been ALL OVER the GOP in recent weeks, telling them that clean energy jobs are “fentanyl jobs” and “a cancer”
The Senate is about to destroy clean energy to give tax cuts to billionaires
The bill could pass within the next 24 hours.
heated.world
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Yesterday the House voted to end this economic boom with the passage of their "Big Beautiful Bill Act." Now the bill heads to the Senate.

Time to make some calls to these Senators and convince them to keep the economic boom going.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
These clean energy projects have created huge demand for factories making solar panels, wind turbine components, and batteries.

The vast majority of these factories have been built in red states and districts. They have created hundreds of thousands of jobs and brought billions in investment.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
This clean energy is cleaning up our air and mitigating climate change. But it's also powering an economic boom in America.

The clean energy tax credits that Congress is attempting to repeal require that companies build US supply chains.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Since the Inflation Reduction Act passed, 43 GW of clean energy has been built in state's led by Republican Senators.

To put that number in context, that's enough to power millions of homes every year with cheap, carbon-free electricity.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
In the coming weeks, the Senate will decide the fate of clean energy in America.

So I decided to crunch some numbers and see how much solar, wind, and storage capacity has been built in each Senators' state.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Thanks for sharing but also 😭😭😭 because you're probably right.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
This week, Republicans released their budget bill that aims to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act.

I analyzed every clean energy project that has been built since the IRA passed—3,570 in all.

The proposed budget bill would hurt Republican districts the most.

www.distilled.earth/p/the-republ...
michael-thomas.bsky.social
You can explore the interactive data on solar imports by country here: cleanview.co/content/sola...
Cleanview
cleanview.co
michael-thomas.bsky.social
The domestic solar manufacturing industry was booming thanks to the IRA. But now factories will almost certainly be delayed and domestic products will get more expensive.

It will take years to rebuild these supply chains. And in the meantime, we'll all be paying the price.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Tariffs are going to hurt domestic manufacturers in the short term.

US manufacturers rely on a global supply chain to source everything from the solar cells that go into solar panels to the steel that goes into their factories.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
93% of solar panel imports came from just 6 countries in 2024. These countries have some of the highest tariffs going forward.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
But factories can’t be built overnight.

Solar panel demand still outstrips domestic supply. That means developers will still need to import panels in the short term.

The result is going to be higher electricity costs for American consumers and businesses.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Tariffs are going to make it more expensive to build solar. And that is going to make electricity more expensive for everyone.

The US solar supply chain has been growing since the passage of the IRA which offered big incentives to make solar panels and cells in the US.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
How are tariffs going to impact the solar market in the US?

At Cleanview we just published a new dataset and dashboard to help folks understand the potential impact of the latest tariffs.

Here are a few takeaways from the data:

cleanview.co/content/sola...
michael-thomas.bsky.social
🌎 Climate tech job alert 🌎

I'm hiring a Data Engineer at @CleanviewEnergy
to build data pipelines that will power our clean energy intelligence platform.

If you know anyone who loves working with clean energy data, please send them my way.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Cleanview Data Engineer (Contract) Job Description
About Cleanview Cleanview is a market intelligence platform that makes it easy for investors, business development teams, and clean energy professionals to track renewable energy projects and trends. ...
docs.google.com
michael-thomas.bsky.social
We're tracking hundreds of planned clean energy projects and 400+ developer pipelines at Cleanview.

More on our clean energy project tracker here: cleanview.co
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Texas will add more battery storage capacity in 2025 than any other state.

Developers plan to build 7 GW of new capacity—as much as the entire US built in 2023.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
One of the most overlooked energy stories of 2024:

Battery storage grew 65% last year, with the U.S. adding 10.9 GW of new capacity. And growth is accelerating—we're on track for 18.1 GW in 2025, a 68% increase.

Just 5 years ago, this technology was considered experimental.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
What happens to the IRA will arguably be the most important climate and clean energy policy over the next 4 years.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
Where things go from here, depends largely on the fate of the IRA. Some members of Congress are pushing for its full repeal. Others, including many in the South, are fighting for its survival.
michael-thomas.bsky.social
MA had 6x more solar capacity than TN.

But the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—the biggest climate bill in US history—has dramatically changed this trend.

Over the last couple years, solar adoption in the South has exploded thanks to strong federal policy support.