Energy Gang

Whoever you ask, you are likely find broad agreement that the world needs more energy infrastructure. Whether you are worried about ensuring secure supplies, powering new data centres, or cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the answer is most often going to be investing in new assets: power plants, transmission lines, factories, pipelines, ports… the list goes on. But all too often, getting big proj...

US residential electricity prices have risen by more than 40 per cent since the start of 2021, which is much faster than general inflation. Utilities requested a total of $31 billion in increased rates last year, double the amount in 2024. And investor-owned utilities are planning to spend $1.4 trillion on capital projects over the next five years – enough on one calculation, to build almost 2,000...

Methane is the second-most important greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide. It has accounted for roughly 30% of human-induced global warming since the 19th century. But it is also a valued commodity, used to heat homes and cook food, provide raw materials for industry and keep the lights on. Every molecule leaked is energy wasted and money lost. The IEA estimates that about 200 billion cubic meters...

There are two great forces reshaping the world of energy today. The AI boom and the wave of investment in new data centres have sent power producers scrambling for generation capacity to meet soaring electricity demand. At the same time, the severe disruption to shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has put security of supply at the top of every importer's agenda. In this special episode,...

The conflict in the Middle East has created severe disruption to shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, taking roughly 20% of global supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) off the market. It has been a reminder that hundreds of millions of people rely on the international gas trade to heat our homes, fuel our industries and keep our lights on. And that trade is highly vulnerable to sudden...

America is facing an energy supply crisis created by surging demand for electricity from data centres. A transition to a lower-carbon system requires massive investment in new clean energy infrastructure. But legal and regulatory structures mean that developing projects in the US is often an uncertain, drawn-out and expensive process. To take just one example, new transmission infrastructure is vi...

The era of stagnant electricity demand in the US is over. Data centres, electrification, and reshoring of manufacturing are driving a surge in demand that is stronger that anything that anyone currently working in the industry has yet seen in their professional lifetimes. The question of which market and regulatory structures are needed to respond to this new and fast-changing world is now at the...

The war with Iran has put a spotlight on the security and resilience of energy and supply chains around the world. In this second special episode from the ACORE Finance Forum in New York, host Ed Crooks explores what that means for the US power industry, at a moment when rising electricity demand was already putting the grid under strain. Lori Ann LaRocco, a trade and supply chain expert and autho...

The numbers are staggering. The “magnificent seven” Big Tech companies are expected to have combined capital spending of about $800 billion this year. Data centres’ electricity demand is soaring, and hundreds of billions of dollars more are being mobilised to invest in power infrastructure to meet that demand. In this special episode, recorded at the ACORE Finance Forum in New York, host Ed Crooks...

Ten weeks into the war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. The ceasefire is officially holding, but occasional attacks on ships and installations continue. A difficult question is coming into focus: what if the strait never fully reopens? Host Ed Crooks is joined by regular contributor Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the Global Energy, Climate, and Sustainability Lab at NYU, along...

The past year has been challenging for electric vehicles. In the first quarter of 2026, US EV sales were about 27 per cent below their level in the first quarter of last year. But the ride-hailing industry still sees a future that is electric, autonomous, and shared, and is placing a multi-billion dollar bet on it. Ride-hailing services such as Uber could be one of the key sectors supporting the e...

When the workings of an electricity market come to the attention of the White House, it’s usually a sign that something’s wrong. Back in January, 13 state governors went to the White House to agree plans for PJM, the largest electricity market in the US. The market is scrambling to find more energy supply to keep up with the boom in data centers, while holding down ratepayers’ bills. Managing the...

The world changed forever on February 28th, 2026. The consequences of the Iran war will take many years to play out. But one fact already seems clear: we are not going back to the world that existed before the conflict began. To assess what the war means for the future of oil, gas and power, host Ed Crooks is joined by three of the most experienced voices in the geopolitics of energy. Regular gues...

Energy bills are rising, data centers are multiplying, and the grid is straining to keep up. What happens next?  For two decades, electricity prices in the United States barely moved. Demand was flat, natural gas was cheap, and the system was largely stable. That era is over. A surge in data center construction, accelerating electrification, and the legacy o...

Tanker traffic dries up, oil, gas and fertilizer prices soar, and the world holds its breath The Strait of Hormuz has long been discussed as one of the single greatest vulnerabilities in global energy supply. Now the risk has become reality. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, and Chris Aversano, Director of Maritime Partne...

VPPs – virtual power plants – continue to spark heated debate. Are they genuinely a fast, affordable way to add capacity to the grid? Or are they an overhyped concept that falls apart when electricity systems are under stress? To find out, host Ed Crooks welcomes Colby Hastings, the senior director for residential energy at Tesla, to unpack what VPPs can and can’t do for the grid. Colby explains h...

New analysis from Wood Mackenzie shows that 220 gigawatts of additional power demand from data centers is in the pipeline in the US, and 183 GW of that is already backed by firm commercial commitments. That is a huge amount to add in just a few years: it’s equal to about 22% of US peak demand in 2025. The big question is whether the US electricity industry going to be able to meet that additional...

ACORE, the power and renewables industry group, is this week hosting its annual Policy Forum in Washinton DC. It’s an event where industry leaders and experts discuss how the changing landscape of US energy policy is shaping infrastructure investment, the growth of electricity supply, and the affordability of power.  Host Ed Crooks is recording two special episodes from the forum. This first...

Data centres have become one of the most contentious issue in US power markets. The question of who will pay for the new generation and grid upgrades needed to keep them running has been soaring up the political agenda, and attracting attention in the White House. Host Ed Crooks is joined on this episode by Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Power & Water at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Vince Pa...

It’s the hottest sector in the global energy industry right now, driven by rising power demand, the need to back up variable renewable generation, and escalating threats to grid resilience. It is of course, battery storage. Host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe speak with Julian Nebreda, CEO of energy storage systems company Fluence, about why batteries are becoming essential grid infra...

As Texas battles another bout of bitterly cold weather, Energy Gang looks at the lessons that one generation and transmission electric co-operative learned from Winter Storm Uri in 2021. The freeze and subsequent shock to energy prices showed providers how dangerous it can be to rely on the market alone. For Rayburn Electric, a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative, incurring yea...

The new year has only just begun, and already we have seen an event with massive significance for the world of energy. The US operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro opens a new era for a country that holds – according to some definitions – the world’s largest oil reserves. So far there has been little impact on oil markets. But what are the implications going to be for energy in t...

As we head into 2026, electricity grids aren’t just under strain; they are facing transformational change because of the shifts in the ways that we work, entertain ourselves, and get around. EVs are one of the fastest-growing new loads on the grid in many parts of the world, but are also one of the least well-understood. They can exhibit flexibility that’s mostly going unused today. Millions of EV...

It’s the final  Energy Gang  of the year, and host Ed Crooks is joined by regulars   Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab ,  Shanu Mathew, a portfolio investor and manager, and Melissa Lott, a systems engineer and energy analyst, to take stock of an exciting year for energy. The buzzword of 2025 was undoubtedly AI. Data centres trans...

California is often described as the state where you can see the future of the US, and of the world. That has certainly been true in terms of some of the problems faced by the electricity grid. California has been grappling with the impact of wildfires and a big shift to renewable generation, and now faces the prospect of rising power demand from electrification and data centers. In this episode,...