Renewable energy stocks in the U.S. are trading mixed in Tuesday’s session as investors balance a softer risk tone on Wall Street with a powerful long-term tailwind: rapidly rising electricity demand—especially from AI data centers—and the buildout of “time-to-power” infrastructure like utility-scale solar, battery storage, and distributed energy resources.
By early afternoon in New York (around 1:45–2:30 p.m. ET), major indexes were lower, with energy among the weakest S&P 500 sectors as crude slid to its lowest level since 2021, according to Reuters. [1] That macro setup matters for clean energy too: many renewable developers and equipment makers are highly sensitive to capital costs, and the market is now pricing more rate cuts next year than the Federal Reserve signaled last week. [2]
Below is what’s moving renewable energy and clean-tech stocks today—plus the key forecasts and analyst calls released on December 16, 2025 that are shaping the sector narrative.
Clean energy stocks today: early-afternoon snapshot in the U.S. market
Clean-energy ETFs were broadly lower in early afternoon trading, reflecting the day’s cautious tone even as single names diverged:
- iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN): $16.215, -2.2%
- Invesco Solar ETF (TAN): $47.26, -0.7%
- Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW): $30.57, -0.8%
- First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy (QCLN): $44.05, -1.8%
Among widely followed U.S.-listed renewable and clean-tech stocks:
- First Solar (FSLR): $255.37, -0.2%
- Enphase Energy (ENPH): $31.47, +0.3%
- SolarEdge (SEDG): $28.99, +1.6%
- Sunrun (RUN): $17.10, -1.4%
- Shoals (SHLS): $8.33, -3.9%
- Array Technologies (ARRY): $8.37, -1.2%
- Fluence (FLNC): $20.43, -5.1%
- Bloom Energy (BE): $84.73, -5.4%
- GE Vernova (GEV): $683.23, +0.3%
Two utility-linked names also drew attention today for very different reasons:
- NRG Energy (NRG): $159.75, -0.2%
- Xcel Energy (XEL): $73.70, -2.7%
Top renewable energy stock news on Dec. 16, 2025
Sunrun (RUN) and NRG (NRG) partner in Texas for distributed energy and a future “virtual power plant”
One of the biggest U.S. renewables headlines today is Sunrun’s multi-year partnership with NRG Energy, aimed at accelerating distributed energy adoption—especially home battery storage in Texas—while also aggregating customer systems to supply dispatchable capacity to the ERCOT grid.
In the companies’ announcement, the partnership is framed around a goal of building a 1 gigawatt virtual power plant by 2035, using Sunrun solar-plus-storage systems paired with optimized electricity plans and smart battery programming through NRG’s retail power brand Reliant. The firms also described a model where Sunrun is paid for aggregation and participation in the market, and participating customers are compensated for sharing stored solar energy. [3]
Why it matters for renewable stocks:
This is a direct signal that residential solar is increasingly being valued not just as “rooftop generation,” but as grid capacity—a theme that can improve unit economics if regulators and market rules continue evolving to monetize flexibility (especially in fast-growing, heat-stressed markets like Texas).
Enphase (ENPH) expands “safe harbor” activity as domestic content incentives remain a core catalyst
Enphase announced today it has expanded a safe harbor agreement with a leading third-party ownership (TPO) solar financier. The company said the expanded agreement is projected to generate about $55 million in revenue across Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, with most expected to be recognized in Q1. [4]
The press release emphasizes several points investors are watching closely:
- Safe-harboring equipment can help preserve investment tax credit (ITC) eligibility under current rules, reducing exposure to future policy changes. [5]
- The agreement is expected to expand deployments of U.S.-supplied IQ8 microinverters, and Enphase says certain “DOM” SKUs paired with other U.S.-made solar equipment can help enable eligibility for a domestic content bonus tax credit. [6]
- Enphase says it expects to enter similar agreements in coming months, reflecting how financiers and installers are actively managing timelines and sourcing requirements. [7]
Why it matters today:
Safe-harbor strategy has become a crucial bridge between project pipelines and shifting incentive rules. For rate-sensitive clean-energy stocks, clearer near-term revenue visibility (and “pull-forward” activity) can matter as much as long-run installation forecasts.
Analyst forecasts and ratings today: AI power demand reshapes the 2026 clean-tech outlook
A major Dec. 16 analysis note circulating in markets (reported by Investing.com) centers on a single idea: electricity demand growth is accelerating after a decade of relative flatness, and the supply response will likely include a lot of solar and storage because they can be built quickly.
Key forecast points highlighted:
- Morgan Stanley estimates aggregate data center power demand could reach ~150 GW by 2030, and that data centers could account for roughly 75% of incremental power demand over the next five years. [8]
- The bank expects overall U.S. electricity consumption to grow close to 3% per year through the end of the decade, a sharp shift from the past ten years. [9]
- In renewables, Morgan Stanley expects elevated installation levels for utility-scale solar and storage, citing “time to power” (often 1–2 years) and the desire of hyperscalers to limit emissions. [10]
The same coverage also pointed to stock-level positioning and rating actions:
- Preference for companies addressing supply constraints and faster time-to-power, reiterating Overweight ratings on GE Vernova, First Solar, and Bloom Energy. [11]
- SolarEdge upgraded to Equal-weight from Underweight on signs the residential solar market may be improving and results may have bottomed. [12]
- Shoals downgraded to Equal-weight from Overweight, citing competitive and pricing pressures despite a constructive view on utility-scale solar demand. [13]
What this means for investors watching renewables today:
The sector conversation is shifting from “are renewables growing?” to “which technologies can deliver capacity fast enough—and at what cost of capital?” That’s a very different setup than the 2020–2021 momentum cycle, and it tends to reward firms with scarce products, domestic supply chains, or “grid-adjacent” value propositions.
The big-picture 2025 narrative: green stocks’ comeback meets a volatile tape
A Bloomberg News analysis (published today via Advisor Perspectives) argues that green stocks have been major winners in 2025, even though many investors expected clean energy to struggle under a U.S. policy backdrop perceived as favorable to fossil fuels.
Highlights from that analysis:
- The S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index is up 44% year-to-date, beating the S&P 500’s 16% gain and outpacing an 11% rise in the S&P Global Oil Index. [14]
- BloombergNEF is cited forecasting that electricity demand tied to AI training and services could quadruple within a decade, making data centers one of the fastest-growing electricity users. [15]
- Even after 2025’s rally, the clean-energy stock gauge is described as still about 73% below its 2007 peak, and trading around 20x forward earnings, below a five-year average of 23x—a valuation framing that has started pulling investors back toward the sector. [16]
The market catch: the same piece notes the Clean Energy Transition Index pulled back 7.6% from a peak hit in November, showing that this is still a high-beta theme—particularly when investor sentiment toward AI spending, rates, or risk assets shifts. [17]
Power-hungry Big Tech keeps signing renewables deals—supportive for developers and grid buildout
Dec. 16 also delivered more proof that Big Tech’s energy procurement remains a structural support for renewables:
- ReNew Energy Global (RNW) (a U.S.-listed Indian renewable developer) said it signed a long-term deal with Google to develop a 150 MW solar project in Rajasthan, expected to generate about 425,000 MWh annually and come online in 2026, aligning with Google’s goal of operating on carbon-free energy by 2030. [18]
- TotalEnergies announced a 21-year power supply deal with Google to provide 1 TWh of renewable power for data centers in Malaysia from a new solar plant expected to begin construction in early 2026, with supply beginning in Q1 2026. Reuters also noted TotalEnergies signed a separate Google deal in Ohio in November. [19]
Why this matters for U.S. renewable energy stocks:
Even when individual projects are outside the U.S., these deals reinforce a global procurement pattern that supports equipment demand (panels, inverters, transformers), grid investment, and multi-year development pipelines—all of which feed into valuations for U.S.-listed clean-energy manufacturers and power infrastructure names.
Risks in focus today: oil’s slide, rates, and a utility wildfire lawsuit
Wall Street tone: crude drops to the lowest since 2021, energy sector lags
Reuters reported Tuesday’s decline was led by healthcare and energy, with energy the weakest S&P sector as crude slid to levels not seen since 2021—while investors priced in more 2026 rate cuts after economic data releases. [20]
Renewables angle: lower oil doesn’t directly dictate solar and wind economics, but oil weakness can weigh on broad “energy” sentiment, and it often coincides with macro risk-off moves that can pressure higher-volatility clean-tech shares.
Xcel Energy (XEL) hit by Texas lawsuit tied to the 2024 Smokehouse Creek wildfire
In a headline with immediate stock impact, Reuters reported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Xcel Energy’s unit Southwestern Public Service, alleging responsibility for the 2024 Smokehouse Creek wildfire. Reuters noted the lawsuit seeks compensation and penalties and that Xcel shares fell about 4% in afternoon trading. [21]
By early afternoon, Xcel was down roughly 2.7%.
Why it matters for renewable investors:
Utilities are central to the renewables buildout, but they also carry climate-and-grid liability risks (wildfire, storms, reliability). Litigation headlines can raise uncertainty around future costs and capital allocation—especially for companies with large service territories and extensive transmission footprints.
What to watch next for renewable energy stocks
As trading heads toward the close and investors position for 2026, today’s reporting suggests a few near-term catalysts that can move solar, storage, and broader clean-tech names:
- Rate expectations and Treasury yields: markets are now pricing more than 50 bps of cuts next year, which can lift rate-sensitive renewables if that view holds. [22]
- “Time-to-power” winners: analysts are increasingly emphasizing which technologies can add capacity fastest—supportive for solar + storage, and for equipment supply chains viewed as scarce. [23]
- Distributed energy monetization: deals like Sunrun–NRG highlight the value of aggregated batteries and rooftop solar as dispatchable capacity—especially in ERCOT-style markets. [24]
- Policy execution and tax-credit mechanics: Enphase’s continued safe-harbor activity shows how financing and domestic content rules are now embedded into near-term revenue timing. [25]
- AI data-center procurement pace: continued renewable PPAs and long-duration contracts (from Google and others) reinforce multi-year demand—while any slowdown in AI capex sentiment can create volatility. [26]
Renewable energy stocks remain a story of two timeframes: day-to-day volatility driven by rates, risk sentiment, and headlines—versus a multi-year demand surge fueled by electrification and AI-driven load growth. For investors, today’s news flow points to a market that is increasingly rewarding “capacity, speed, and bankability” across solar, storage, and grid infrastructure—while still punishing names exposed to pricing pressure, policy uncertainty, or event-driven legal risk. [27]
This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. investors.sunrun.com, 4. www.globenewswire.com, 5. www.globenewswire.com, 6. www.globenewswire.com, 7. www.globenewswire.com, 8. www.investing.com, 9. www.investing.com, 10. www.investing.com, 11. www.investing.com, 12. www.investing.com, 13. www.investing.com, 14. www.advisorperspectives.com, 15. www.advisorperspectives.com, 16. www.advisorperspectives.com, 17. www.advisorperspectives.com, 18. www.reuters.com, 19. www.reuters.com, 20. www.reuters.com, 21. www.reuters.com, 22. www.reuters.com, 23. www.investing.com, 24. investors.sunrun.com, 25. www.globenewswire.com, 26. www.advisorperspectives.com, 27. www.investing.com
