Grid instability, regulation worry renewable energy workers: survey

In the renewable energy industry, there are two separate, yet equally important groups: Those who work in solar, and those who work in other renewables. These are their stories. [Insert “Law and Order” sound effect here.] Or, not their stories, exactly, but their responses to a survey from RatedPower about the fate of the renewable energy industry.

In the company’s 2025 Global Renewable Trends Report, RatedPower asked almost 150 renewable energy professionals what they feel are the biggest obstacles facing the industry.

The top three were “grid saturation and instability,” “permits and regulation,” and “lack of government incentives.”

Though grid health was the most common worry for those working in renewables, it’s actually perceived as less of an obstacle to the industry than it was last year. In 2024, 66.7% of respondents said grid health was a “critical challenge.” This year, that number is down to 60.1%. That may be due to the fact that there have been advancements to grid stability in the last year, or at least efforts to help it function.

Keeping the lights on: In December, software platform Kraken launched the Mercury Consortium, a regulatory body that will help clean technologies connect to and better support the grid. The industry has also recently seen a lot of innovation in energy storage technologies, which can help the grid by providing energy during high demand intervals to avoid blackouts.

Energy professionals think there’s promise in battery systems, too: 48.3% of those surveyed by RatedPower said that the storage technologies will grow more than any other sector within the renewable energy industry over the next five years.

Permit culture: As for the government's role in the clean energy transition, there have been recent changes in how the government regulates clean energy and incentivizes renewables, which are both considered significant obstacles to the industry by workers.

In the first days of his second term, President Donald Trump withdrew the permits of seven offshore wind leases and declared that more non-renewable energy needed to be produced in response to a “national energy emergency.”

That said, individual state clean energy projects will persist according to Casey Katims, the executive director of the US Climate Alliance. In an interview with Tech Brew, he said Trump’s energy-focused executive orders have “initiated an unlawful pause” on the federal funds earmarked to states for such projects.

“There are billions of dollars for really impactful projects across the country that are lowering household energy bills, putting Americans to work, increasing energy production, modernizing the grid, cleaning up our air and our water, and tackling climate pollution. And those funds are owed for those projects,” Katims said. “The federal government cannot lawfully withhold funding for those.”