NEWS: The White House's grid equipment order could slow the record storage buildout.

President Trump is tightening his grip on the grid: He recently issued an executive order enabling federal officials to halt purchases of certain foreign-made power equipment. This news arrived a month after the Trump administration banned sales of inverters made abroad.

The biggest casualty: Battery storage, according to BloombergNEF analysis shared with Energy Central. 

Why? The order targets China…where we source 60% of our lithium-ion batteries. But other equipment, like transformers and switchgear, are far less vulnerable. The US either buys those domestically, or from non-Chinese manufacturers.

The impacts: This order could dampen some serious storage momentum. Q2 BESS installations reached a record high (around 20 GWh), per a new SEIA report. That’s a 108% quarter-over-quarter boost.

In the short term, we’ll likely see BESS projects get delayed—or outright cancelled, BNEF experts told Energy Central. Eventually, developers could be forced to switch supply chains…so some projects may no longer pencil, said Isshu Kikuma, a BNEF energy storage analyst. “If the grid or project developer can’t keep up with rapid load growth, that could be a huge risk to the overall US power grid systems,” Kikuma told us. 

The confusion: For now, the vaguely worded order has left developers in limbo. They won’t know much until the White House offers more clarification (which is expected within 120 days of the order). 

What makes this order different: Along with the inverter ban, it gives federal officials unprecedented leeway over the tech reaching the US market. This includes “far more power to truly block out Chinese firms, if that is what it intends to do,” said Zoe Zakrzewska, a trade and supply chains analyst at BNEF. 

Can domestic suppliers fill the gaps? We’ve seen major progress in US production this year: LG opened one of the country’s largest battery cell factories, Anthro Energy broke ground on a facility targeting 25 GWh annually, and Samsung SDI is developing its first wholly-owned North American plant.

But…it could take years to beef up the domestic supply chain. For now, one thing’s for certain: Uncertainty.