The Data Center Coalition, the industry representative of major data center owners, such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, has called on the US Treasury to maintain subsidies on wind and solar power, arguing that it has provided the sector an edge over China.

"Any regulatory friction that slows down deployment of new generation today directly impacts our ability to meet AI-era electricity demands tomorrow," the coalition said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, seen by Reuters.

The Trump administration has been actively trying to roll back many of the tax credits that have enabled the growth of the US renewable energy sector.

As part of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” a 50 percent tax is set to be levied on wind projects and a 30 percent tax on solar projects completed after December 2027, if they cannot prove they haven’t used Chinese components.

For other projects looking to claim clean electricity tax credits, the phase-out of the credits would begin for construction commencing after 2032, without regard to emission reduction targets provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.

In support of his decision, Trump claimed that renewables are costly, inconsistent, reliant on supply chains controlled abroad, and harm both the environment and the stability of the electric grid.

Last week, the Treasury released rules on how solar and wind projects can qualify for tax credits. The new rules will eliminate the five percent safe harbor for any projects above 1.5 MW, which could impact more than $100 billion in planned investments across 6GW of planned projects.

This is, despite renewables, especially solar, having become cheaper on average than most fossil fuel alternatives. A 2023 research paper from Energy Innovation indicated that 99 percent of existing US coal plants are more expensive to run than new solar or wind power, with solar at least 30 percent cheaper on average.

Data center operators, especially major hyperscalers, are some of the biggest offtakers of renewable energy in the US. In March, it was reported that US tech companies contracted a total of 48GW of clean energy year on year, a 66.4 percent increase from the year prior.

The majority of the agreements were Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Notable PPAs included a 300MWac solar PPA between Meta and Longroad Energy in Texas, a 724MW solar PPA between Google and Leeward Energy in Oklahoma, and a 100MW solar PPA between Amazon and EDP Renewables North America in Mississippi.