Energy Capital Podcast

Texas is adding solar at a faster pace than any other state. Solar and storage are powering Texas’ manufacturing renaissance, creating jobs, and lowering customers’ bills; even the state’s oil and gas sector is an eager consumer of solar power . And renewables are also pumping tens of billions of dollars into local — mostly rural — economies in the form of landowner payments and tax payments. We’r...

On Wednesday, I published Energy Submission , a piece on how the U.S. is at risk of abandoning the battle for 21st economic supremacy as China accelerates its energy dominance. I recorded this podcast episode to go a little deeper into the consequences of the House-passed reconciliation bill and what we risk losing if we dismantle the tools driving the energy future. It’s available on YouTube with...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.com The Texas legislative session just wrapped. As always, energy was front and center. And once again, there were sweeping efforts to pass bills that would limit energy development in Texas. 🎧 Listen to the first 25+ minutes for free , and if you’re a paid subscriber and want to listen in Apple Podcasts or Spot...

With just ten days left in the legislative session, a lot of attention is (rightfully) focused on bad bills. But some lawmakers are pushing forward thoughtful, future-focused energy policy and Chairman Drew Darby is at the forefront. For this episode, I sat down with Chairman Darby, a West Texas Republican and Chairman of the House Energy Resources Committee , to talk about what an energy-secure T...

AI data centers. Semiconductor fabs. Oil and gas electrification. Desalination. Rising population. Texas is booming and it needs massive amounts of electricity to fuel that growth. We’re already using more power than ever. ERCOT projects demand will grow by 60,000 megawatts in just five years . That would be like adding the current peak demand of California on top of Texas. But instead of clearing...

Note: The Podcast Recording with Graphs is Here . What would happen if Texas started turning away new wind and solar projects or even retiring some of the capacity we already have? That’s not merely a hypothetical. It’s what several bills that have passed the Texas Senate aim to do. And according to new modeling from Aurora Energy Research , the consequences could be severe: higher prices, increas...

Texas has added more new power supply over the last four years than any other state and over 90% of it has been wind, solar, and storage. Today, renewable energy is no longer "alternative" in Texas. It is the backbone of our power grid. At this year’s Intersolar North America conference, I sat down with Nico Johnson , host of the excellent Suncast podcast, for a conversation about how the Texas en...

Large load growth is one of the most urgent challenges and opportunities for the grid. From data centers to factories to electrified oil and gas operations, demand on the ERCOT grid is expected to soar. If we don’t load forecasting and planning right, we risk higher costs, more outages, and a weaker grid. If we do it right, we can build a more resilient, affordable, and flexible system for decades...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.com Battery technology continues to improve and costs continue to drop, opening up new opportunities and reshaping the grid. And at a time of rapid load growth and massive constraints on natural gas turbine availability, storage is surging In this episode, I talk with Suzanne Leta, VP of Policy at Fluence, one of...

Last year, ERCOT stunned observers when it projected that electricity demand in Texas could double within five years. That announcement kicked off a wave of meetings, legislative hearings, and proposals. But now? ERCOT’s latest projections say we might need to triple our electric supply. The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my wo...

Everyone’s talking about the rise in electricity demand, especially from data centers. However, far too few are talking about what to do about it. In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Tyler Norris, a fellow at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute and co-author of a recent study Rethinking Load Growth . What Tyler and his team found is extraordinary: by curtailing just 0.2...

If it passed, Senate Bill 819 would be one of the most damaging energy bills we’ve seen in years. It would slow down Texas’ economy, hitting rural areas the hardest. It’s a direct attack on Texas energy producers and a threat to consumers, landowners, and communities across the state. But don’t take it from me, listen to the witnesses from Armstrong, Nacogdoches, Schleicher, and Tom Green Counties...

We recorded this episode in front of a packed room at Geothermal House during SXSW, and it couldn’t have been more timely. Energy demand is rising fast. Energy policy is fraught. And into this moment comes geothermal — a resource that’s clean, always-on, right beneath our feet, and dare I say, bipartisan. I sat down with Jamie Beard, the founder of Project InnerSpace, to talk about the opportunity...

For this episode, I talked with former North Carolina Representative and CEO of the Conservative Energy Network John Szoka. John’s a veteran, a conservative Republican, and businessman. He’s committed to clean energy not despite his conservative principles, but because of them. John is focused on helping policymakers and business leaders understand the economic and national security benefits of cl...

Texas has long been an energy powerhouse, but the grid is facing unprecedented challenges. Between surging demand from industrial electrification, hotter summers, and data centers and the retirement of aging power plants, we need more advanced firm power sources and we need them fast. In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Doug Robison, the founder and president of Natura R...

Every summer, we hear concerns about rolling blackouts . Every winter, we remember the failures of Winter Storm Uri . But how did we get here? What are the biggest risks, what has actually changed, and what still needs to happen? In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Mose Buchele, longtime energy and environment reporter at KUT and the host of The Disconnect , a podcast th...

What if utilities could see infrastructure failures before they happen? What if grid operators, regulators, and energy companies could harness the power of artificial intelligence to prevent outages? Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, and winter cold snaps are getting more extreme. But as their intensity ramps up, so does computing power, and particularly the capabilities of artificial i...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.com Note: We had some minor audio issues in this episode—thanks for bearing with us. The conversation is still clear and well worth the listen. Appreciate your patience! John Arnold is one of the most successful energy traders of all time. He built his career by understanding how systems work, where inefficiencie...

Solar energy has the potential to revolutionize Texas’ power grid, lower costs, and provide resilience in extreme weather. But what happens when some companies selling solar systems aren’t playing fair? In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast , I spoke with Sara DiNatale , an investigative reporter whose in-depth four-part series “In Broad Daylight” for the San Antonio Express-News uncovered...

In his State of the State speech this week, Governor Abbott acknowledged the obvious : “Our rapidly growing state also needs an increasing supply of electric power.” The Governor didn’t specify what types of energy we need, though he did give an implicit nod to an all-of- the-above approach, including renewables and storage: “We now provide more power than ever before. In the last four years, we i...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.com In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Jimmy Glotfelty , commissioner at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) from the summer of 2021 through the end of 2024. With decades of experience across the private and public sectors, Jimmy is the rare person who bring...

In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I spoke with Congressman Greg Casar about some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing Texas’ energy system. From addressing worker protections during extreme weather to rethinking Texas’ grid structure, our conversation explored a range of ideas championed by the Congressman, including * The Connect the Grid Act: Casar introduced the...

In this episode, I had the privilege of sitting down with Governor Rick Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history and former U.S. Secretary of Energy. Governor Perry has played a pivotal role in shaping Texas’ energy mix and fostering innovation, and he shared his views both on the current state and on the future of energy. We explored his energy legacy, including the deregulated electr...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.com In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, host Doug Lewin speaks with Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, about the evolving landscape of solar energy in Texas. They discuss the significant growth of solar and storage solutions, the impact of customer-led initiatives, and the importance of energy independence. P...

This week’s episode is a bit different. I’m not hosting the podcast — I’m the guest. During the Texas Energy Summit, former Public Utility Commission Chair Becky Klein turned the tables and interviewed me live, right after a panel of legislators and a keynote from current PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson . In this fast-paced conversation, Becky and I covered a wide range of energy topics, including grid r...