NORTH American Clean Energy Under Pressure from Foreign Patent Fronts

By Alex Kimani - Oct 15, 2025

• U.S. clean energy growth has slowed sharply, with solar, wind, and battery additions expected to rise only 7% in 2025.
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• China has overtaken the U.S. in clean energy innovation, unveiling the world’s first operational thorium reactor and dominating global supply chains for solar, wind, and batteries.
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• U.S. firms remain active in clean tech patenting, though legal battles like Tigo Energy’s settlement with SMA and Maxeon Solar’s lawsuit against Canadian Solar highlight growing competition and IP tensions in the sector.

The U.S. clean energy drive has slowed down markedly in the current year,  with solar, wind and battery capacity additions on track to climb a modest 7% in 2025 from 2024 levels, the slowest clip in over a decade. The wind sector is particularly badly hit, with projections of a mere 1.8% in capacity growth in the current year, the lowest since 2010, largely due to policy headwinds by the Trump administration including the cancellation of hundreds of millions in offshore wind funding as well as freezing permitting for offshore wind projects. However, the transitory nature of the U.S. government is likely to keep clean energy innovation in the country alive and well.

Whereas the exact total number of clean energy patents issued in the U.S. is not readily available in a single, up-to-date figure, global trends show a large and growing number over the past decade. Between 2017 and 2021, there were 78,000 patent families in low-carbon energy technologies, with the United States contributing significantly to this global total. Some specific areas, like photovoltaic energy, have shown high patent activity in the U.S. between 2015 and 2025, with over 3,200 filings. However, the U.S. Patent Office now has its work cut out, given the stiff competition in the global clean energy sector and the fact that many countries, particularly China, are out-innovating the U.S. in cleantech.

China is the global leader in clean energy innovation, including in the manufacturing, large-scale deployment, investment, and the development of new technologies like fast-charging electric vehicles. The country's dominance in the supply chain for key clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries is significant, supported by decades of strategic planning and massive government and private investments. In April, Chinese scientists unveiled the world’s first operational thorium reactor.  According to Guangming Daily, the 2-megawatt experimental reactor is located in the Gobi Desert, and the latest milestone puts China at the forefront in the race to build a practical thorium reactor–long considered a more abundant and safer alternative to uranium. More significantly, China relied heavily on long-abandoned American research in the field.  In the 1960s, American scientists built and tested molten salt reactors, but Washington eventually shelved the program in favor of uranium-based technology. “The US left its research publicly available, waiting for the right successor. We were that successor,” project chief scientist Xu Hongjie said. “Rabbits sometimes make mistakes or grow lazy. That’s when the tortoise seizes its chance,” he added.

U.S. based companies and startups are still pursuing patents near historically high levels, including in the battery and electric vehicle sectors. These companies use these patents as tools or corporate assets to achieve various business objectives such as creation of barriers to entry,  protection of competitive differentiators and protection of market share, among other important uses. The fact that the vast majority of cleantech innovations are now happening outside the United States makes it harder to find non-U.S. prior art especially for overbroad patent portfolios. Prior art documents are any publicly available information that existed before the filing date of a patent application, such as patents, publications, websites, and products, that can be used to determine if an invention is novel and non-obvious. Patent examiners use prior art to decide if an invention meets the criteria for being new and not an obvious modification of what already exists. Patents experts are increasingly advising their clients to prepare at least a part of their patent portfolio in a more narrow manner to lower the risk of future litigations airing from unconsidered prior art arising that can result in significant legal costs.

Recent patent cases involving U.S. energy companies include Tigo Energy's (NASDAQ:TYGO) settlement with SMA over solar technology and Maxeon Solar's (NASDAQ:MAXN) lawsuits against competitors like Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) and REC Solar for allegedly infringing on its TOPCon solar panel technology. Tigo Energy reached a multi-year settlement with SMA in May 2025 to end a patent infringement lawsuit concerning Tigo's rapid shutdown technology for solar systems. Tigo filed the lawsuit in July 2022, alleging that SMA infringed on several of its patents related to rapid shutdown features required by the U.S. National Electrical Code (NEC). The settlement concluded the legal dispute, though the specific terms remain confidential. Meanwhile, Maxeon Solar sued Canadian Solar in March 2024 for infringing on its patents for TOPCon solar cell technology, alleging that Canadian Solar's n-type solar panels with TOPCon cells violate its intellectual property. This lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and is part of a broader effort by Maxeon to protect its patents against companies that make, import, or sell TOPCon products. Canadian Solar has indicated it will defend itself against the claims.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com