Energy Evolution

One year into his return to the White House, President Donald Trump is exerting a major impact on the US energy landscape. With policy direction shifting rapidly, the administration's moves on fossil fuels, regulation and geopolitics are already rippling through markets, supply chains and long-term energy transition plans.

In this episode, Dan Testa is joined by Jasmin Melvin, senior editor at S&P Global Energy and head of The Energy Daily, to address whether the US is headed for a renewed fossil-fuel boom, what that means for clean energy, and whether there is still room for a durable, balanced energy strategy in the years ahead.

Jasmin spoke with Maya Weber, senior editor at S&P Global Energy, to break down the most consequential policy shifts so far. The conversation then turns to industry and market impacts, with Dustin Meyer, senior vice president at the American Petroleum Institute, and JC Sandberg, chief policy officer at the American Clean Power Association.

President Donald Trump's federal budget bill, signed in July 2025, accelerated the end of the Section 25D residential clean energy tax credits in the US, which had been previously set to extend into the mid-2030s. With the sunsetting of the Section 25D tax credit at the end of 2025, the US residential solar sector must once again adapt to dramatic shifts to the tax credit landscape, a phenomenon known as the "solar-coaster."

For this episode, Dan Testa spoke with Platts renewable energy reporter Kirsten Errick, who covers US solar, about what this could mean for US residential solar. Kirsten interviewed Cinthya Peña, a renewables market analyst at S&P Global Energy Horizons, and Maheep Mandloi, director of clean energy equity research at Mizuho Americas, who shed light on how this tax credit cliff could alter the market.

US power prices are climbing, pushing utilities to the forefront of a national debate over the cost of living. Demand for electricity is growing, and is set to accelerate as tech companies race to build massive data centers to support AI and other technologies. These trends have power providers, regulators and grid operators scrambling to accommodate and prepare.

So what can we see expect to see in the US power and utility sector in 2026? In this episode, Dan Testa speaks with Travis Miller, a senior financial analyst at Morningstar Securities Research, and Sam Huntington, research director on the North American power team for S&P Global Energy CERA, to get their perspectives.

The discussion digs into the factors driving power prices, utility capital expenditure plans topping $1 trillion, the outlook for renewable power and gas plants in key markets, and how AI is drawing a different kind of investor to utility stocks.

In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte explores the seismic shift transforming America's electricity landscape as artificial intelligence drives unprecedented power demand after years of flat growth.

The discussion features Benjamin Levitt, associate director of research and analysis for gas power and energy futures, and Christopher Wilfong, director of North America power and renewables consulting, both at S&P Global Energy CERA. They talk about the infrastructure challenges facing the power sector while addressing concerns about grid reliability, impact on electricity prices and the potential for an AI bubble reminiscent of the dot-com era.

Eklavya also speaks with Tom Falcone, CEO of the Large Public Power Council, who reveals how utilities handle gigawatt-scale requests from tech giants and explains the critical challenge of ensuring rapid load growth doesn't compromise affordability for existing customers.

The conversations examine how utilities, caught off guard by the AI boom, are grappling with the stark reality of needing to double grid capacity in some regions within a decade, while navigating supply chain bottlenecks, permitting delays, and the critical question of who pays for this massive infrastructure expansion.

In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte explores how energy traders are turning to sophisticated weather analytics for a competitive edge.

From weather derivatives to advanced AI-enhanced weather models, these tools are becoming more sophisticated by the day.

The discussion features insights from two of Munich Re's weather derivatives specialists, Theresa Kammel and Pierre Buisson, who shed light on how the energy industry is increasingly using this market to hedge against weather-related financial risks, especially in the renewables space.

Eklavya also speaks with Sean Kelly, CEO of energy forecasting company Amperon, about how AI is transforming weather analytics and reshaping how traders anticipate electricity demand, renewable generation and power prices.

The European hydrogen industry has experienced a turbulent 2025, with project delays and cancellations dominating the headlines. But the data tells a more nuanced story, with large volumes of projects starting construction. In this episode, senior energy transition reporter James Burgess speaks to Christian Stuckmann, Uniper's head of hydrogen business development, and Shell president for hydrogen Andy Beard to discuss the complexities of the nascent energy transition sector. They examine the challenges facing the industry and explain how they have been able to progress projects despite headwinds from policy delays and demand uncertainty, with the refining industry emerging as a leader in the green hydrogen space.

Nuclear power is back in vogue, with shuttered reactors being restarted, existing plants having their operating lives extended and a growing market of new companies racing to build advanced reactor designs. But questions persist about whether the nuclear industry can execute to deliver these generation projects on schedule and on budget in an era of rapidly rising power demand.

In this episode, Dan Testa discusses these trends with Platts reporter Abbie Bennett and Bill Freebairn, Platts associate director of price reporting for nuclear fuels. Also joining the episode are Adam Stein, a nuclear analyst at the Breakthrough Institute, as well as Drew Marsh, CEO of Entergy Corp. and the new chair of the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The gas turbine industry has staged one of the most dramatic comebacks in recent years, fueled by artificial intelligence's insatiable appetite for power.

In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte sits down with Javier Cavada, president and CEO for EMEA at Mitsubishi Power, to examine how AI's demand for 24/7 power has created multi-year waiting times for new gas turbines.

The conversation explores the far-reaching implications of this boom: tech giants are building dedicated gas-fired plants for data centers, developing nations face turbine shortages, and manufacturers struggle to meet unprecedented demand. Cavada reveals that his company is already discussing projects for 2031-2032, highlighting the unprecedented scale of current demand.

India's energy transition story can be vividly seen through the lens of one of its most established utilities, Tata Power, which has shifted from a long-standing reliance on coal to become an integrated renewable energy company aiming for a 70% clean power capacity mix by 2030.

In this episode, S&P Global Commodity Insights editor Ruchira Singh interviews Tata Power CEO and managing director Praveer Sinha on India's ambitious plan to install 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based power capacity by the end of the decade.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Sinha discusses critical infrastructure challenges — from land acquisition hurdles to transmission bottlenecks — and explains how Tata Power plans to deliver 24/7 renewable energy through integrated solar, wind, pumped hydro and battery storage solutions.

The energy policy of Europe's largest economy, Germany, is the focus of this week's episode.

The coalition government's energy ministry recently published a monitoring report highlighting the need for a reality check on electricity demand forecasts and the implications for renewable energy expansion.

Andreas Franke, editorial lead at S&P Global Commodity Insights, and Henning Gloystein, managing director of energy, climate & resources at Eurasia Group, examine how revised projections could alter Berlin's solar and wind expansion targets, and reshape the country's path to 80% renewable power by 2030.

The conversation delves into the challenges facing German industry amid high energy costs and questions whether the country's 2045 climate targets remain realistic, given its planned reliance on gas-fired power generation.

Franke and Gloystein also discuss how this recalibrated approach signals broader challenges facing the global energy transition, and they debate whether similar "reality checks" may be needed across other European nations.