As developers and manufacturers scrambled to meet federal tax credit deadlines, thousands of new clean energy jobs were created. However, project cancellations have essentially negated the gains made in job creation, according to new analysis.
The analysis comes from advocacy group E2 and research firm Atlas Public Policy, who argued that federal policy rollbacks and other various challenges are leading to canceled or abandoned projects.
Clean energy generation projects announced in May and manufacturing projects announced in June are expected to create more than 19,800 new jobs, E2 found, but canceled, downsized, or abandoned projects would have created nearly as many jobs.
“It’s one step forward, one step back,” said Michael Timberlake, director of research for E2. “New clean energy projects are still growing, but project cancellations continue to grow too amid continued federal policy pressures and other challenges.”
In May, 22 utility-scale generation and storage projects were announced, expected to create about 17,900 construction and operational jobs and approximately $6.1 billion in investment. E2 attributes this surge in project announcements to companies hoping to claim clean energy tax credits before the July 4 phase-out of federal clean energy tax credits under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
In the same month, 12 generation and storage projects were canceled, E2 found, representing 3,488 megawatts (MW) of lost capacity, nearly $5.9 billion in abandoned investment, and about 18,300 lost construction and operational jobs.
On the manufacturing side, seven projects were announced in June, including Convalt Energy’s planned $5 billion solar manufacturing facility in New Mexico. On the other hand, Lucid Motors announced a downsizing in June that will eliminate around 700 manufacturing jobs. Year-to-date, E2 has tracked the cancellation, closing, or downsizing of 14 manufacturing projects, resulting in the loss of $7 billion in planned investments and 14,482 jobs.
Another recent analysis conducted by BW Research for E2 found that large-scale clean energy projects abandoned since the beginning of 2025 will cost the U.S. economy nearly 470,000 jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in foregone wages, tax revenues, private investment, and economic growth.
According to the report, the closed, downsized, and canceled projects would have generated more than $90 billion in U.S. GDP growth during construction. Once operational, the canceled or abandoned projects could have generated an additional $55 billion every year.
Altogether, the canceled projects represent $68 billion in lost capital investment and another $48 billion in lost annual operational investment, the analysis found. The projects could have generated an estimated $53 billion in wages for workers during construction and more than $31 billion annually after they began operation.
Nearly $20 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue could have been generated from the construction activity, and another $12 billion in annual tax revenues could have been generated from operations, according to the analysis.
Battery storage projects account for the largest share of lost construction-phase jobs, with more than 42,000 jobs. Solar projects account for almost 33,000 lost construction jobs, while electric vehicle projects account for nearly 28,000.
Electric vehicle-related projects account for the largest share of long-term losses, with nearly 255,000 permanent jobs no longer supported. Battery storage projects account for nearly 64,000 permanent jobs, while solar projects account for almost 19,000.
“The numbers tell the story. Making it harder to build clean energy projects means lost jobs, lost investments, lost electricity supplies and lost local tax revenues,” said E2 Executive Director Bob Keefe. “Add it all up, and it’s clear that federal actions to stop clean energy are costing all of us – consumers, businesses and our national economy – big time.”
