The Trump administration could make a bold energy move before the midterms:

Extend the soon-to-expire solar investment tax credits

This is a guest post by Shannon Fitzgerald (O’Shea)

Photo by Nuno Marques on Unsplash

About a month ago, I received a surprising email.

Kellyanne Conway — longtime confidante of President Trump and director of his first presidential campaign — would be delivering a keynote at the American Council on Renewable Energy’s (ACORE) Policy Forum in Washington DC.

Given the Trump administration’s well documented skepticism on renewable energy, I was intrigued not only by what she might say, but why she had agreed to speak there at all.

It turns out that Conway had been doing some polling that had some, perhaps unexpected, results: expanding solar energy has significant and broad support among Republican voters. According to research done by Conway’s firm, KA Consulting, 75% of Trump Voters Support Expanding Solar Energy in the U.S and 83% of Americans overall think that solar is essential to US energy security.

Then came some additional signals that the political winds around solar may be shifting.

Katie Miller, prominent conservative influencer and the wife of White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, began posting on social media that “solar energy is the energy of the future” and that the United States must “expand solar to compete with China.” According to reporting in The Washington Post, Miller is among a growing number of Trump-aligned figures promoting solar as a practical tool to meet surging electricity demand and to maintain American competitiveness in the global race to dominate artificial intelligence (AI) development.

In parallel, recent moves by agencies like the Department of the Interior (DOI) also provide evidence that a shift is underway. For example, E&E news reported at the end of February that DOI is reviewing at least 20 commercial scale solar projects that have been stalled in permitting processes for months.

Since day one of Trump taking office in 2025, his administration has been clear: abundant energy is central to the United States’ national security. An energy emergency was declared on January 20th 2025, citing rising electricity demand and the strategic importance of powering advanced technologies like AI as key reasons for said declaration.

The administration was right to make this declaration. Now it has an opportunity to fully operationalize its intentions: by extending the deadline for the July 4, 2026 expiration of the solar investment tax credits (ITCs) which was enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Electricity demand in the United States is rising for the first time in decades, driven by AI data centers, manufacturing reshoring, and powering the needs of a modern digital economy. Large technology companies — including OpenAI — have warned the federal government that insufficient electricity supply could become a major bottleneck for U.S. AI leadership. Something I wrote about in this newsletter a few months ago!

And it is truly a race against the clock. Building large nuclear plants or new natural gas infrastructure can take a decade or more, whereas solar projects can often be deployed in a fraction of that time. Removing barriers and incentivizing investment may be the fastest way to bring additional electrons onto the grid while, in parallel, longer-term infrastructure is built.

Furthermore, all of this was true before the latest geopolitical shock: an escalating conflict in Iran. Even limited disruptions in the region can push global oil and natural gas prices upward and introduce new risks to energy supply chains. Multiple media stories are already showing gas prices have gone up significantly since the start of the conflict, including the price of diesel at over $5 a gallon for only the second time ever, according to Reuters. While solar supply chain components (e.g. aluminum) could also be impacted by closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as columnist Paul Krugman notes in a March 6 Substack post -- unlike oil and natural gas -- the wind and the sun themselves don’t need to transit through the Strait.

I believe the Trump administration is keenly aware of this dynamic and may already be considering shifting out the sunsetting of these tax incentives at this critical moment. They should be encouraged to do so -- and Republicans and Democrats alike should support such an effort.

Re-incentivizing solar expansion, especially at this moment, could also bring much-needed economic relief to Americans who, every day, are worried about whether they can pay their electricity bill this month or buy groceries. In a country blessed with such abundance as the United States, this should not be a choice that any American family has to make.

And it is simply a matter of national security – where expanding domestic energy production, lowering electricity costs and strengthening U.S. competitiveness on AI are top of mind for policymakers and voters alike heading into a highly competitive midterm election cycle.

At the ACORE Policy Forum – where Ms. Conway and other government, technology, energy and finance leaders took the floor -- there was a clear red thread present in nearly all of their statements: policy uncertainty is the enemy of energy innovation, investment and infrastructure development.

There is an opportunity to rectify this and put the US on a clearer path towards an all-of-the-above energy dominance strategy that enhances energy affordability, abundance and security at the critical moment our country faces today and for our collective future.

And in an election year that is already being defined by rising energy costs and economic anxiety, that may be a political opportunity worth seizing.

Shannon Fitzgerald (O’Shea) is a communications and public affairs leader with over two decades of experience working across both the public and private sectors, including over 20 years with the United Nations. She has served as an advisor to Fortune 50 executives, UN ambassadors, and world leaders and has helped shape global conversations on sustainability, social impact, and energy innovation. This opinion piece is written in Shannon’s personal capacity and is not reflective of the views of her current or former employers.