The Energy Gang

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 PJM grid is one of the toughest jobs in the US power industry. And these days it is being carried out in the full glare of political and public scrutiny.If you want to understand the pressures bearing down on the US electricity, PJM is the place to look. It is the largest grid in the country, serving 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia. And it is some of the world's most intense hotspots for new data center development, including the famous “data center alley” of northern Virginia, which takes roughly 90% of the country's internet traffic . When things get complicated for PJM, they get com

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 guest Amy Myers Jaffe is the Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab. Samantha Gross, returning to the show, is the Director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. And Amos Hochstein, appearing for the first time, is a Managing Partner at TWG Global and former senior energy advisor to President Biden and the US State Department.Their conclusion is stark: this is the worst energy crisis the world has ever seen. The shared view is that the disruption we are seeing now is more serious than the oil shocks of the 1970s, and broader in its reach than anything markets

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 of years of underinvestment in energy infrastructure have collided to create a system under strain.Nowhere is that more visible than in PJM, the largest wholesale power market in the US, stretching from Illinois to North Carolina, and home to some of the world's most active hot spots for data center development. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Paul Segal, CEO of LS Power, and Melissa Lott, Partner for Energy Technologies at Microsoft, to assess how the system can meet the new challenges it faces.LS Power is a leading developer and operator of electricity generation and transmission, so Paul is righ

Tanker traffic dries up, oil, gas and fertilizer prices soar, and the world holds its breathThe 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 Partnerships at Wood Mackenzie, to assess what the disruption means for energy markets, supply chains, and the people at the centre of it all.Oil prices briefly spiked to around $119 a barrel before falling back. European natural gas prices have nearly doubled. But those numbers only tell part of the story. In normal times, between 150 and 175 ships would pass through the Strait of Hormuz every day. Since the war began, that has fallen to perhaps 10 to 12 a day. The Strait is a vital artery for the world’s energy and fertilizer supplies. If it is blocked for long, the results could be catastrophic.Amy puts the market's reac

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 how storage-based VPPs can behave very differently from the classic demand response that relies on consumers changing their behaviour. She sets out Tesla’s thinking on VPPs, including its strategies for customer participation, reliability, and pay-for-performance. Tesla’s model includes opt-outs, backup reserve settings, and transparency via an app. Customer choice is an important principle.Regular guest Amy Myers Jaffy also joins the show, and she debates what’s holding VPPs back from scaling everywhere. Electricity market design can be critical for determining how fast VPPs are adopted. Other issues, including concer

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 demand. And if so, how?On the second day of ACORE’s 2026 Policy Forum in Washington, host Ed Crooks talks to industry leaders and experts about the answers to those questions. First he talks to Wood Mackenzie’s Anna Shpitsberg, who is global head of power and renewables research. She breaks down the numbers on electricity demand from new data centers, and discusses some of the implications for the industry.Next up is someone whose role is right at the heart of the data center boom. Arthur Haubenstock is senior counsel at Equinix, which is one of the world’s largest developers, owners and operators. He talks about wha

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 show is focused on the US government’s attempts to build up a domestic supply chain for renewables and other energy equipment. Ed speaks with Dr Sarah Kapnick, who is the global head of Climate Advisory at JP Morgan, and Peter Toomey, the Chief Development Officer at Cypress Creek Renewables, which is one of the country’s leading energy developers. They discuss how supply chains and infrastructure for renewable energy are evolving. Demand for electricity is booming, but supply chains are under pressure. Volatile government support creates uncertainty for developers and suppliers. The “one big beautiful bill” (OB3

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 Parisi, President & COO at NIPSCO, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, to discuss a solution.Together, they unpack their new agreement to develop power capacity in northern Indiana, which they say will enable AWS to add 2.4 gigawatts of data centre capacity without sticking everyone else with the bill. Data centres are not just for AI: they are the “invisible digital backbone” behind everything from banking to healthcare to emergency services, Brandon says. But he also acknowledges that local communities around data centre developments are right to ask hard questions about costs. NIPSCO and other utili

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 infrastructure.At peak hours during the bitterly cold weather that has covered much of North America in recent weeks, batteries accounted for about 1% of US power supply. But even a relatively small share of battery capacity can play an outsized role in preventing outages, Julian says. He argues that batteries are best understood not as replacements for fossil fuels, but as system optimisers: delivering fast-response capacity, stabilising grids and allowing generation assets to run more efficiently. With Amy and Ed, he addresses some of the common myths around batteries’ cold-weather performance, multi-peak demand days an

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 years of power costs in just days was a catalyst for a fundamental reset of its approach to risk and resilience.Host Ed Crooks is joined by Rayburn’s President & CEO David Naylor, and General Counsel Chris Anderson, to hear the story of how they rethought how the co-op could best serve its members, and implemented its new strategy. The crucial steps included a first-of-its-kind securitization for a co-op, to spread costs over decades, and a strategic pivot toward owning generation as a natural hedge for its electricity sales. The co-op bought a power plant, now called the Rayburn En

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 the months and years to come? To discuss how this volatile situation might evolve, host Ed Crooks is joined by regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, and an expert on oil earlier in her career. History never repeats itself, the saying goes, but sometimes it rhymes. Amy draws a parallel between Venezuela today, and Iraq after the US-led invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. There are some similarities in the position of the two oil-rich countries, which were both dragged down by mismanagement and sanctions. But Amy argues that Venezuela’s oil

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 EVs are already connected to the grid, and they’re being treated as a problem instead of a solution. So how could they be used to ease that strain on electricity grids? What would it look like if we could turn EVs into really useful distributed energy resources (DERs)? Host Ed Crooks welcomes Apoorv Bhargava to the show for the first time. Apoorv is the CEO and co-founder of WeaveGrid, a company aiming to make EVs and other DERs function like dependable infrastructure for distribution grids. It wants provide utilities with trusted, repeatable, edge-level control of assets, rather than occasional, system-level dema

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 transformed the outlook for power demand, and rising electricity prices put pressure on a new US administration that is determined to focus on affordability. As the shockwaves from advances in AI spread out across the industry, everyone started talking about “bring your own power” and flexible loads on the grid. Meanwhile battery deployment soared, as businesses looked for solutions to the challenges raised by variable renewable generation and rising demand.The crew discuss permitting reform in the US, congestion pricing for cars in New York – one of the more positive stories of the year – and exciting times for nuclear power. T

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, host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe of NYU talk to Elliot Mainzer, President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), to dig into how the state is tackling those challenges.California’s electricity prices have nearly doubled in eight years, rising to about 32 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers. Affordability has become a political flashpoint, as it has in many other parts of the US, and other countries around the world. Elliot explains how CAISO is using reforms of transmission planning and interconnection queues to help “bend the cost curve” downwards.The discussion a

The COP30 climate talks in Belem wrapped up over the weekend, and reactions to the outcome were sharply divided. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said “climate cooperation is still alive…we’re undeniably still in it and we are fighting back.” Others said the COP had been another failure, with a final statement that amounted to “a form of climate denial”.To make sense of what really happened at COP30, and where the talks leave the global effort on climate change, host Ed Crooks is joined by three regular Energy Gang contributors who have been following the negotiations closely. Amy Harder is the national energy correspondent at the news service Axios, Lisa Jacobson is the president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and Simon Evans is deputy editor of the website Carbon Brief. Together they discuss the arguments over COP30’s statement on fossil fuels, the rise of climate adaptation as a key priority, and hopes for increasing flows of capital to lower-income countries.A pledge to tr

Negotiations in the COP 30 climate talks are continuing in Belem, Brazil. The headlines are focusing on the divisions between countries that are shaping this year’s climate talks. But despite the doom and gloom, there are some practical steps being taken to support the transition towards lower-carbon energy. There may be a notable lack of significant new pledges. But making a pledge is the easy part. Implementation is always harder, and that is the focus for COP30.At COP28 in Dubai two years ago, a goal was set to double the pace of global energy efficiency gains, from 2% a year to over 4% a year. Can we hit that goal, and what will it mean if we do?To debate those questions, Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe are joined by Bob Hinkle, whose company Metrus Energy develops and finances efficiency and building energy upgrades across the US. Bob is there at the talks in Belem, and gives his perspective on the mood at the meeting. The presence of American businesses at the conference this year is definit

COP30, which began this week in Belém, Brazil, marks a decade since the Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 in 2015. It’s being billed as the “implementation COP”: instead of grand new announcements of international agreements, governments are supposed to be focused on delivering on the commitments they have already made. Host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe welcome back Amy Harder, National Energy Correspondent at Axios. She says not every COP is created equally, and “this is definitely one of those COPs that are more of an ebb than a flow.”But that said, it doesn’t mean COP30 will inevitably be unproductive. Amy Myers Jaffe, who is the Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, argues that COP30 “could wind up over time being seen as a more successful meeting than people are currently thinking it will be.”Instead of a new comprehensive global framework, the objectives for this year’s talks will be a series of smaller-scale sectoral initiatives: scaling sustainab

COP30, now getting under way in Belem, Brazil, has been billed as “the implementation COP”, which means a focus on governments taking real steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. We will be examining all the key issues for government negotiators in the talks very soon. But for this show, we are looking at the role of business. At New York Climate Week in September, the discussion was all about how businesses are facing up to the challenges of meeting growing demand for energy while also curbing emissions. With the rise of AI and broader electrification trends driving up power demand in some places at rates not seen for decades, sustainability goals are under pressure. Will companies abandon them? Or are they just finding new ways to decarbonise while keeping things going? Two companies in very different industries but both focused on similar goals, are Prologis and Trane. First up, host Ed Crooks speaks to Susan Uthayakumar, Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer at Prologis. She explains how

As world leaders, businesses and NGOs start their journeys to Brazil for the COP30 climate talks, more than 200,000 people attended ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, the world’s biggest energy event. Energy Gang was there to bring you the highlights from the week’s discussions. One of the key talking points was the theme of energy addition, rather than transition. In other words, the idea that new renewables and other low-carbon sources are adding to global energy supplies, rather than replacing fossil fuels. With forecasts showing an acceleration in power demand growth driven by AI, and the continuing need for increased energy supply to raise living standards in low and middle-income countries, calls for a rapid transition away from oil, gas and coal seem to many to be unrealistic. At ADIPEC, the conversation centred around the vision of new low-carbon supplies stacking on top of hydrocarbons, to reduce costs, increase access and cut emissions intensity. But there was confidence in the prospect of robust global

Electricity demand in the US is rising faster than it has in decades, driven by AI and a wave of investment in domestic manufacturing. But with transmission lines and other electricity infrastructure taking years to permit and build, how can America secure the power it needs fast enough to remain competitive?In this special episode of The Energy Gang, recorded at the ACORE Grid Forum in Washington DC, host Ed Crooks speaks with industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers tackling the challenge of “speed to power”, and asks them for their ideas on how to accelerate the build-out of the next grid.Ed begins the episode with Heather Reams, President of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, who explains why bipartisan consensus on permitting reform is finally within reach, and what it will take to sustain political will through an election year.Next, Richard Kauffman, Chair of the Coalition for Green Capital, shares his perspective on how creative financing models and public-private partnerships can unlock