Optimism Remains in Renewable Energy Sector Amidst Global Energy Landscape, Yet Challenges Await
Revved-up clean energy players across the Americas remain bullish on the sector's growth prospects, despite the flip-flopping climate commitments in the US and a renewed push for its domestic oil and gas industry. The optimism stems from robust consumer demand, bountiful natural resources, and competitive prices, particularly south of the border.
Favorable regulations, tax incentives, and decreasing costs of renewable technologies have set the stage for rapid sector growth across the Americas over the past few years. In the US, the generating capacity of wind and solar energy has more than tripled in the last decade, making them the fastest-growing source of electricity.
Boosting this momentum is a pipeline of large-scale projects in the region that act as a buffer against any abrupt slowdown in US investment, says Paulo Morais, executive director at Peers, a Brazilian consultancy operating in various fast-growth sectors, including renewables.
At the heart of the industry's confidence is the belief that the basic economics of renewable energy now compete head-to-head with conventional fuels, making technologies such as wind and solar attractive to consumers regardless of their political leanings.
"There's a lot of optimism," says Morais. "Solar energy, in particular, continues to grow, driven by the adoption of residential and business consumers seeking to reduce electricity costs."
One company riding this rebalancing in renewable energy's economic fundamentals is Solar Landscape, a New Jersey-based group that has expanded over the past five years to meet demand for leasing commercial and industrial rooftops for small-scale solar generation projects.
"At first, not everyone who is in the space saw the opportunity as emphatically as we did, [but] we've now grown into the biggest at commercial rooftop solar in the country," says chief executive Shaun Keegan.
The group, set up in 2012 as a contractor to install photovoltaic panels for newly built US homes, generated a compound annual growth rate of 28.4% during the period assessed. Revenue more than doubled to $100mn, from three years earlier, thanks to the reduction in the cost of commercial PV systems and rapidly accelerating regulations in multiple states.
In Latin America, solar energy groups have also experienced growth, with Menlo Electric, a Polish supplier of photovoltaic panels, topping the 2025 Financial Times ranking of the fastest-growing companies in Europe.
In Colombia, a long-standing law exempts renewable energy equipment and services from VAT. The country's clean energy capacity is projected to increase by 36% this year thanks to a collective investment of about $500mn in 19 new projects. Nearly half of the additional 610MW in clean-power capacity is set to come from two large-scale solar plants in the municipalities of Guaduas y Paratebueno, located near Bogota.
The price-competitiveness of solar makes clean power "increasingly more accessible" for consumers, says Catalina Palacios, general manager of Colombia-based PV distributor Grupo Solaire. During its decade-plus in the photovoltaic market, the group's sales have roughly doubled every year, and it has expanded into Central America and neighboring Ecuador.
Another factor at play is energy security. Poor national infrastructure in smaller markets such as the Caribbean has long made power cuts a problem, even in countries with stronger grids. The prospect of energy imports being disrupted raises concerns about security, particularly for countries with a reliance on homegrown resources like wind, solar, and hydropower.
Renewables are quick to position themselves as a safeguard against the vicissitudes of global energy markets. "None of these wider disruptions affect people when they're using solar PVs," says Palacios. "Generating electricity on-site just offers more confidence all around."
Even countries with large domestic fossil fuel reserves like Mexico, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil still rely to an extent on imports for power generation. As such, the appeal of renewables as a source of cheap, clean, and secure electricity is growing among businesses, which use long-term purchase agreements to secure green power.
A recent survey of business leaders found that 70% in Mexico and the US would rather their governments prioritize renewables over fossil fuels when investing in new power generation. In Latin America, access to clean electricity is an essential consideration in decision-making, with over 9 in 10 executives in Mexico and Brazil prioritizing the issue when determining where to locate their operations and supply chains.
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In the US, the federal government's policy target, such as New Mexico’s 2045 clean energy goal and South Dakota’s 92% renewable electricity share in 2024, are accelerating deployment. In addition, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimates that new solar installations could slow by up to 25% over the coming years should government incentives be phased out early. A low-case scenario published by the SEIA also suggests that the expiration of the solar investment tax credit (ITC) could cause investment in residential and commercial markets to plunge by nearly half.
Conversely, global hydropower growth, led by China, could parallel opportunities in Latin America’s river-rich regions, while countries like Brazil (wind) and Mexico (solar auctions) are expanding capacity. Technological innovation, cost declines, and federal land utilization position the US as a near-term leader in renewable energy growth, while Latin America’s resource wealth offers long-term potential. However, rising demand necessitates storage and transmission upgrades, particularly for intermittent solar/wind, and there is a need for stronger renewable targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to meet 2030 goals.
- Executive director at Peers, Paulo Morais, suggests that the pipeline of large-scale renewable energy projects in the Americas acts as a buffer against any abrupt slowdown in US investment.
- Solar energy, in particular, continues to grow, driven by the adoption of residential and business consumers seeking to reduce electricity costs.
- Solar Landscape, a New Jersey-based company, has expanded over the past five years to meet demand for leasing commercial and industrial rooftops for small-scale solar generation projects.
- In addition to consumer demand, favorable regulations, tax incentives, and decreasing costs of renewable technologies have set the stage for rapid sector growth across the Americas over the past few years.
- The price-competitiveness of solar makes clean power "increasingly more accessible" for consumers, says Catalina Palacios, general manager of Colombia-based PV distributor Grupo Solaire.
- A recent survey of business leaders found that 70% in Mexico and the US would rather their governments prioritize renewables over fossil fuels when investing in new power generation.
- In Latin America, access to clean electricity is an essential consideration in decision-making, with over 9 in 10 executives in Mexico and Brazil prioritizing the issue when determining where to locate their operations and supply chains.
- Technological innovation, cost declines, and federal land utilization position the US as a near-term leader in renewable energy growth, while Latin America’s resource wealth offers long-term potential for the renewable-energy industry.
