There has been a “clear cooling” of appetite for new renewable energy investments in the US, which could create opportunities for Europe’s energy transition, according to speakers at the Solar Finance & Investment Europe summit this morning.
Speaking on the opening panel of the event in London this morning, Domenico Tripodi, partner and co-head of investments at AIP Management, explained how the US is, for the first time, exposed to “country risk”, which has made investors less keen to commit capital to new clean energy projects.
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“From an equity and fund management side, I struggle with the US story not because of the energy side of the business, but the perception of the country risk, which is a new component,” said Tripodi. This week, the latest report from LevelTen Energy found North American power purchase agreement (PPA) prices had climbed to their highest average price on record, in large part due to “immense regulatory headwinds” and uncertainties relating to the government’s commitment to the energy transition.
“I don’t think the US has ever been considered to be exposed to country risk … but [this is] a new element,” said Tripodi.
Antonio Salvati, managing director at NextEnergy III & NextPower V, agreed, saying that he has “seen the same trend” in his work.
“In 2025, people were waiting to see how debt uncertainty would become reality but by the end of 2025, there was a net gain [in optimism] among investors to deploy capital in Europe.”
Several panellists pointed out, however, that this shift of investor attention from the US to Europe runs counter to standard market fundamentals, with a much stronger demand for power in the US than Europe at present.
“The energy fundaments in the US have never been stronger than today. Demand has been growing and is projected to grow even more. In Europe, on the other hand, demand has been destroyed,” said Tripodi, who said that electricity demand in the UK, for instance, has fallen by “close to 10%”.
“The reality is that there’s a genuine demand for growth through AI and digitalisation,” said Bart White, managing director and European head of energy structured finance at Santander. He said that his business, in debt financing rather than equity, has not seen a strong shift away from the US and towards Europe.
“There’s lot of cause to be very optimistic about US activity,” he added. “It’s an incredibly relevant power market and people should be focused on it.”
The panel also agreed that US financiers turning away from their home market towards Europe has never been a key part of the European energy transition, pouring cold water on the idea that US investors are turning their heads en masse.
“Anecdotally, on the ground, we saw a lot more volume going through our business, as a loan arranger, in US renewables,” said White, calling Santander’s investments in the US its “biggest renewable activity in the world”, with more than US$5.5 billion of loans arranged in the US last year.
Energy security and energy subsidies in Europe
Jens-Peter Zink, deputy CEO at European Energy, argued that the relationship between clean energy investment in the US and Europe is not only one of shifting investor priorities, but that Europe is looking to replicate the energy security agenda of the US.
“Europe is maybe copying what the US did a couple of years ago,” said Zink. “It’s not ‘Make America Great Again’, but we’re looking at independence and creating our own energy. We slowly see increases are coming and the energy transition is coming, [and] that makes investments in Europe attractive.”
He went on to say that there are “more incentives” in Europe to reduce price risk and support clean energy investment, with countries like Italy making a commitment to enshrining “a long-term trend in security, and I think that’s what investors want.”
However, White noted that, in Europe, there needs to be a delicate balance struck between government support and private energy investments.
“We need the right amount of subsidies rather than the most subsidy possible,” he said, highlighting a manner in which the European investment landscape differs from the US. “There are markets where there’s been an overly generous amount of subsidy, so there’s been too much generation and installation, and now there’s curtailment.
“People were chasing subsidiary rather than actual need for power,” White added.
PV Tech publisher Solar Media is hosting the 13th edition of the Solar Finance & Investment Europe event in London this week, on 3 – 4 February 2026. This event annually attracts infrastructure funds, institutional investors, asset managers, banks and development platforms at the forefront of European renewables. For more details, visit the website.
