Dutch Energy Shift, US Clean Energy Hit & the AI Infrastructure Boom
From rapid renewables growth in the Netherlands to the US scaling back its clean energy ambitions, this week’s stories chart both momentum and retreat. Global investment in low-emissions electricity continues to rise, but America’s newly enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” could stall solar, wind, and storage additions. Meanwhile, the AI infrastructure boom is reshaping the U.S. economy, acting as a new kind of private-sector stimulus. We also look at global oil producers and a decade of shifting electricity investment.
☀️ Global Electricity Investment Shifts Dramatically
Over the past decade, electricity investment has undergone a dramatic shift. Since 2015, spending on low-emissions power generation and battery storage has more than doubled. Investment in solar PV alone is on track to be more than three times higher in 2025 than it was ten years ago. This global momentum reflects both policy pressure and the cost competitiveness of clean energy, especially as solar continues to dominate new capacity additions.
🧾 US Clean Energy Faces New Hurdles Under “One Big Beautiful Bill”
The newly enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is set to reshape America’s clean energy landscape. By tightening eligibility rules for tax credits and complicating access to incentives, the legislation is already slowing momentum across project pipelines. According to BloombergNEF, the revised outlook now anticipates a 23% decline in new wind, solar, and energy storage deployments through 2030 compared to earlier 2025 projections—highlighting how policy change can swiftly alter clean energy trajectories.
⚡ Dutch Renewables Surge Past 50% of Electricity Mix
For the first time, more than half of the electricity produced in the Netherlands now comes from renewable sources. In 2024, solar and wind alone made up 45% of the Dutch electricity mix, marking a sharp transition from 2018 when fossil fuels accounted for over 80%. This rapid progress follows the 2019 national climate accord, which introduced hundreds of policy measures, including a rising carbon tax, coal phaseouts, and aggressive support for renewables. The result is one of Europe’s most dramatic recent clean energy turnarounds.
🤖 AI Infrastructure Is Driving the U.S. Economy
The ongoing build-out of AI infrastructure is now so large that it’s becoming a major driver of the U.S. economy. In fact, over the past six months, spending on data centers and AI systems has contributed more to GDP growth than all consumer spending combined. The “Magnificent 7” tech giants alone have poured more than $100 billion into AI infrastructure in just the last quarter. As a share of GDP, investment in AI has already surpassed internet infrastructure spending during the dot-com boom, with signs of further acceleration. Some analysts say this surge is functioning as a kind of private-sector stimulus program.
🛢️ Charting the World’s Biggest Oil Producers
The United States remains the world’s top oil producer, accounting for nearly one-fifth of global daily output. Alongside four other major players, these countries produce more than half of the world’s oil every day. A new graphic highlights how global oil supply remains concentrated in just a few hands, from North American shale to Middle Eastern giants. The chart breaks down each nation’s daily production volume and its share of global supply, offering a snapshot of the geopolitical and market influence these producers continue to hold.