There were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President Donald Trump worked to boost polluting fuels while blocking wind and solar, according to dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians.
Surveyed by The Associated Press, many described 2025 as turbulent and challenging for clean energy, though there was progress as projects connected to the electric grid. They said clean energy must continue to grow to meet skyrocketing demand for electricity to power data centers and to lower Americans' utility bills.
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FILE - A worker does checks on battery storage pods at Orsted's Eleven Mile Solar Center lithium-ion battery storage energy facility Feb. 29, 2024, in Coolidge, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
FILE - The base of a cooling tower at Constellation's nuclear power plant stands on Three Mile Island near Middletown, Pa., June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
FILE - Wind turbines operate at Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - Workers install panels at a solar project May 21, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
Solar builder and operator Jorge Vargas said it has been “a very tough year for clean energy” as Trump often made headlines criticizing renewable energy and Republicans muscled a tax and spending cut bill through Congress in July that dramatically rolled back tax breaks for clean energy.
“There was a cooldown effect this year,” said Vargas, cofounder and CEO of Aspen Power. “Having said that, we are a resilient industry.”
Plug Power president Jose Luis Crespo said the developments — both policy recalibration and technological progress — will shape clean energy’s trajectory for years to come.
Much of clean energy's fate in 2025 was driven by booster Joe Biden's exit from the White House.
The year began with ample federal subsidies for clean energy technologies, a growing number of U.S.-based companies making parts and materials for projects and a lot of demand from states and corporations, said Tom Harper, partner at global consultant Baringa.
It ends with subsidies stripped back, a weakened supply chain, higher costs from tariffs and some customers questioning their commitment to clean energy, Harper said. He described the year as “paradigm shifting.”
Trump called wind and solar power “the scam of the century” and vowed not to approve new projects. The federal government canceled grants for hundreds of projects.
The Republicans’ tax bill reversed or steeply curtailed clean energy programs established through the Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill in 2022. Wayne Winegarden, at the Pacific Research Institute think tank, said the time has come for alternative energy to demonstrate viability without subsidies. ( Fossil fuels also receive subsidies.)
Many energy executives said this was the most consequential policy shift. The bill reshaped the economics of clean energy projects, drove a rush to start construction before incentives expire and forced developers to reassess their strategies for acquiring parts and materials, Lennart Hinrichs said. He leads the expansion of TWAICE in the Americas, providing analytics software for battery energy storage systems.
Companies can't make billion-dollar investments with so much policy uncertainty, said American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet.
Consequently, greenhouse gas emissions will fall at a much lower rate than previously projected in the U.S., said Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Duke University.
Solar and storage accounted for 85% of the new power added to the grid in the first nine months of the Trump administration, according to Wood Mackenzie research.
That's because the economics remain strong, demand is high and the technologies can be deployed quickly, said Mike Hall, CEO of Anza Renewables.
Solar energy company Sol Systems said it had a record year as it brought its largest utility-scale project online and grew its business. The energy storage systems company CMBlu Energy said storage clearly stands out as a winner this year too, moving from optional to essential.
“Trump’s effort to manipulate government regulation to harm clean energy just isn’t enough to offset the natural advantages that clean energy has,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. "The direction is still all good.”
The Solar Energy Industries Association said that no matter the policies in Washington, solar and storage will grow as the backbone of the nation's energy future.
Democrats and Republicans have supported investing to keep nuclear reactors online, restart previously closed reactors and deploy new, advanced reactor designs. Nuclear power is a carbon-free source of electricity, though not typically labeled as green energy like other renewables.
“Who had ‘restart Three Mile Island’ on their 2025 Bingo card?” questioned Baringa partner David Shepheard. The Pennsylvania plant was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, in 1979. The Energy Department is loaning $1 billion to help finance a restart.
Everyone loves nuclear, said Darrin Kayser, executive vice president at Edelman. It helps that the technology for small, modular reactors is starting to come to fruition, Kayser added.
Benton Arnett, a senior director at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that as the need for clean, reliable power intensifies, “we will look back on the actions being taken now as laying the foundation."
The Trump administration also supports geothermal energy, and the tax bill largely preserved geothermal tax credits. The Geothermal Rising association said technologies continue to mature and produce, making 2025 a breakthrough year.
Momentum for offshore wind in the United States came to a grinding halt just as the industry was starting to gain traction, said Joey Lange, a senior managing director at Trio, a global sustainability and energy advisory company.
The Trump administration stopped construction on major offshore wind farms, revoked wind energy permits and paused permitting, canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopped federal funding for offshore wind projects.
That has decimated the projects, developers and tech innovators, and no one in wind is raising or spending capital, said Eric Fischgrund, founder and CEO at FischTank PR. Still, Fischgrund said he remains optimistic because the world is transitioning to cleaner energy.
An energy strategy with a diverse mix of sources is the only way forward as demand grows from data centers and other sources, and as people demand affordable, reliable electricity, said former Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Landrieu, now with Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, said promoting or punishing specific energy technologies on ideological grounds is unsustainable.
Experts expect solar and battery storage to continue growing in 2026 to add a lot of power to the grid quickly and cheaply. The market will continue to ensure that most new electricity is renewable, said Amanda Levin, policy analysis director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Hillary Bright, executive director of Turn Forward, thinks offshore wind will still play an important role too. It is both ready and needed to help address the demand for electricity in the new year, which will become increasingly clear "to all audiences,” she said. Turn Forward advocates for offshore wind.
That skyrocketing demand "is shaking up the political calculus that drove the administration’s early policy decisions around renewables,” she said.
BlueWave CEO Sean Finnerty thinks that states, feeling the pressure to deliver affordable, reliable electricity, will increasingly drive clean energy momentum in 2026 by streamlining permitting and the process of connecting to the grid, and by reducing costs for things like permits and fees.
Ed Gunn, Lunar Energy's vice president for revenue, said the industry has weathered tough years before.
“The fundamentals are unchanged," Gunn said, "there is massive value in clean energy.”
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE - A worker does checks on battery storage pods at Orsted's Eleven Mile Solar Center lithium-ion battery storage energy facility Feb. 29, 2024, in Coolidge, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
FILE - The base of a cooling tower at Constellation's nuclear power plant stands on Three Mile Island near Middletown, Pa., June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
FILE - Wind turbines operate at Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - Workers install panels at a solar project May 21, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
ATLANTA (AP) — Millennial and Generation Z Christian influencers are increasingly filling a void in American religion, growing audiences across digital platforms by steering young people to biblical answers to tough questions that aren't always answered in Sunday sermons.
“I can be that in-between — Monday to Saturday help — to give you practical things to make you feel like you’re not walking this walk alone,” said Megan Ashley, 35, sitting cross-legged in sweats on the couch where she records her “In Totality” podcast.
From myriad backgrounds, these influencers talk candidly to their listeners about everything from anxieties and doubts to dating and culture, delving into the Bible’s complexities. Those of faith say Christian influencers are galvanizing young people looking for meaning in a culture that lacks it at a time when years of declining church attendance has slowed.
“What they’re making accessible is a truth that transforms people,” said Lecrae Moore, a Christian rapper and podcaster. “There’s something that’s happening existentially — supernaturally — that I can’t explain.”
Ashley and Moore are among a half-dozen popular influencers who described their work for this story. With and without formal theological training, they describe themselves as churchgoers who don’t want their messages boxed in by denominational labels.
Some grew up in church; others didn’t, but they commonly describe experiencing a spiritual transformation that came out of hardship or a sense of emptiness they pin on secular lifestyles.
“We’re like, listen, we’re two mess-ups too. It’s OK,” said Arielle Reitsma, 36, co-host of podcast “Girls Gone Bible,” which gets more than a million listens or streams each month.
These algorithm-savvy podcasters fit comfortably in a long tradition of Christian celebrities, said Zachary Sheldon, a Baylor University lecturer on media, religion and culture who cited televangelist Billy Graham as an example. Working independently, they can harness audiences more easily than established congregations and media organizations can.
“Exposing people to the faith and challenging them to ask questions and search for something more” are really good things to do, Sheldon said. But he pointed to “potential dangers in granting them too much authority on the basis of their celebrity and their acumen with social media.”
These influencers encourage church attendance and describe reaching a variety of people, including those who have been particularly disconnected from religion, which polls show is a growing number of young Americans. Only 41% of people ages 18-35 surveyed in 2023-24 said they believe in God with certainty, down from 65% in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.
“People are spiritually hungry, emotionally hungry, and I think for the first time ever … people are encountering Jesus even through online platforms, and they’re realizing, this is true life and fulfillment,” said Angela Halili, 29, Reitsma's co-host.
The pair now draws live crowds since starting the podcast more than two years ago. At an event in Atlanta, they warned hundreds of fans against idolizing work or relationships, Bibles in hand, and recounted their days as Hollywood actors battling addiction, heartbreak and mental health disorders. Halili said God brought them “radical healing,” and they want listeners to know that God can perform “miracles” in their lives, too.
Afterward, they hugged and prayed for people in the audience, where Anna Williams, 17, said she considers both Reitsma and Halili to be “a big sister” in her life.
Even as they espouse biblical principles as guidance toward true joy, influencers say that being Christian can be hard.
God “does make everything better, but that doesn’t always come in the way that we think it’s gonna come,” said “In Totality” host Ashley.
Her current obsession, which she teaches with fervor, is a biblical passage about living as a sacrifice. God asks people to give up certain wants and behaviors so they can grow closer to him, Ashley says. She said her intensity grew after a healing encounter with God’s “severity” as a freshly divorced single mom plagued by suicidal thoughts and depression.
Bible passages, day-to-day plights and heavier challenges are covered on “With the Perrys,” a podcast led by husband and wife authors and spoken-word artists who also run a streetwear brand.
“It is the all — how do we do all of this stuff in this weird flesh and weird world?” said Jackie Hill Perry, 36.
She is an admired speaker who is working towards her seminary degree and wrote a book about leaving behind same-sex relationships. She and husband Preston Perry, 39, started podcasting in 2019. Followers already resonated with Perry's theological debates and story of growing up around poverty and violence before finding faith and becoming a Christian evangelist.
“God calls us to ruffle feathers sometimes, to speak to culture,” Perry said.
In a recent episode, the Perrys urged listeners to be honest with God about struggling to trust him. Through focused prayer, obedience and Bible reading, God brings lasting peace, answers and growth during hard circumstances, they say, but this requires more than quick fixes like scrolling and sex.
At just 22, Bryce Crawford teaches Bible chapters on his self-named podcast and posts videos of himself talking to people about Christianity at Pride parades, the Burning Man counter-culture festival and a satanic temple.
Rather than shout “repent,” Crawford’s street evangelism aims to change minds through kindness. His followers say they're attracted by his empathetic yet bold demeanor while delivering talking points against lifestyles such as same-sex marriage.
“My issue with ‘repent or burn in hell’ is that people get frustrated because they don’t know why you’re telling them that,” said Crawford, who describes being severely anxious and bitter toward God until God healed him at a Waffle House. “Our tactics have been one-on-one conversations, calmly listening, asking questions because we care about them, and in that explaining our worldview.”
These influencers acknowledge that online Christianity has its challenges.
A hyperfocus on online drama and Christianity's more esoteric beliefs can miss the basics, such as love and Christ's sacrifice, Hill Perry said. She worries that “simply talking about gentleness or respect or kindness or patience is gonna be boring” to people.
And the deep political and cultural rifts among Christians emerge online too.
For example, Halili and Reitsma got pushback for taking the opportunity to pray at a pre-inauguration rally for President Donald Trump. The Perrys have been criticized by conservatives for talking about police brutality and racial injustice, and liberals for expressing opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.
Some followers say these influencers provide a welcome alternative to the buttoned-up pastors they grew up with who spoke of God as a faraway deity that would reject them for breaking too many rules.
“I really needed someone who was a younger Black female portraying something that wasn’t super traditional,” said Olivia Singleton, 24. She's involved with her church and likes her pastor, but feels like these influencers are like “one of the girls … walking out the faith with you.”
Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Christian podcaster, Megan Ashley, center, attends service at 2819 Church on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Followers of the Christian podcast, "Girls Gone Bible," cry during the live show held at the Atlanta Symphony Hall, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Christian podcaster and poet, Preston Perry, second from left, and his wife, Jackie Hill Perry, a Christian rapper and podcaster, third from left, attend service at 2819 Church on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Angela Halili, 29, cohost of the Christian podcast, "Girls Gone Bible," stands backstage before their live show as fans and followers sing worship music in the Atlanta Symphony Hall, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A Youtube award sits behind Christian podcaster, Megan Ashley, at her home where she films her show, "In Totality," Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Acworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Megan Ashley, founder of the Christian podcast, "In Totality," sits with a Bible at her home where she films online content, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Acworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Girls Gone Bible podcasters, Angela Halili, left, and Arielle Reitsma, attend 2819 Church on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Christian podcaster, Megan Ashley, sits on the couch where she films her show, "In Totality," Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at her home in Acworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Angela Halili, 29, right, cohost of the Christian podcast, "Girls Gone Bible," prays over a follower during their live show held at the Atlanta Symphony Hall, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
