Trump's election win tanked renewable energy stocks — and short-sellers cashed in

Solar panels at MCE Solar One solar farm in Richmond, California. - Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)
Solar panels at MCE Solar One solar farm in Richmond, California. - Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Renewable energy stocks plunged following Donald Trump’s election victory Tuesday, as the sector braces for the real possibility that the president-elect actually does “drill, baby, drill.”

That resulted in a roughly $1.3 billion windfall for investors betting against the stocks, according to calculations by Bloomberg. Among the most shorted clean energy stocks are Plug Power (PLUG), SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG), Bloom Energy (BE), First Solar (FSLR), and Enphase Energy (ENPH), Bloomberg reported, citing data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

A second Trump presidency is expected to give other areas of the energy sector a major boost — especially oil. The Republican has promised to expand oil drilling on his first day in office, and to do away with clean energy policies.

“We’re going to drill, baby, drill,” Trump said last month in New York. “And I will terminate the Green New Scam and will cut your energy prices in half, 50%, within one year from January 20th.”

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contracts — considered the benchmark for U.S. oil prices — traded at $71.13 per barrel as of Friday, down 8% from a year ago but still at the highest level since late 2021.

Trump has long embraced the oil and gas lobby, reportedly offering a quid pro quo to oil executives in April to reverse restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic and do away with rules freezing permits for liquified natural gas and restricting tailpipe emissions.

The rhetoric has yielded some hope in the sector, with an index of domestic oil and gas stocks, including major firms like ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), rising more than 5% Wednesday following Trump’s election win.

But oil production hasn’t slowed under the Biden administration. The U.S. is producing more oil and natural gas than any other country in the world. Last year, crude oil production averaged 12.9 million barrels per day, breaking the previous record of 12.3 million set in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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