Clean energy capital expenditures on track for $180 billion in 2026, reports Crux

A new report on clean energy financing points to some shifts worth knowing about if you're weighing solar, battery storage, or other home energy upgrades tied to utility-scale power trends. Federal tax credits that have supported wind and solar projects (the production tax credit and investment tax credit) lost broad eligibility after July 4, 2026, unless projects were already under construction by then and enter service by roughly 2030. That cutoff pushed developers to lock in over 170 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity before the deadline.

For homeowners, the practical effect shows up in electricity pricing. With subsidies phasing out and financing costs rising, prices utilities pay for solar and wind power are projected to climb $15 to $20 per megawatt-hour, which can feed into what you pay on your electric bill over time. At the same time, battery storage is becoming a bigger part of the market, growing to help balance electricity demand, partly driven by data centers and AI computing needs pulling more power off the grid.

None of this changes home rebate programs directly, but it reflects a broader energy market where storage and battery technology are gaining ground while some utility-scale solar and wind projects face higher costs and slower permitting. If you're considering a home battery or solar-plus-storage system, this growth in the storage market may mean more product options and competition ahead, even as the broader cost of electricity from the grid trends upward due to financing and subsidy changes at the utility scale.