CERAWeek is the Davos of energy: ministers, majors, financiers and a flotilla of consultants descending on downtown Houston. In 2025 the show’s agenda clicked into focus: how to build power capacity fast enough for AI/data centers while keeping energy security and emissions targets intact. If last year was about narrative, this year is about steel, transformers and rights‑of‑way.
The three elephants in the ballroom
- AI eats power. Hyperscalers’ procurement teams spent the week speed‑dating utilities for multi‑gigawatt pipelines. The constraints are not PPAs; they’re interconnection queues, long‑lead transformers, and gas peaker permits to keep capacity factors honest. Nuclear re‑entered polite conversation, not as ideology but as baseload scaffolding for 24/7 clean power claims.
- LNG’s steady drumbeat. With geopolitics still messy, LNG remains the flex fuel keeping lights on during wind/solar lulls and coal exits. The subtext: methane management and scope 1–3 disclosures now affect financing terms. The projects that win show credible methane abatement and market‑aligned offtake.
- CCUS without the fairy dust. The mood shifted from moonshots to brownfield retrofits, CO₂ pipeline corridors, and industrial clusters where capture + utilization pencil out. Tax credits help, but capex discipline rules.
The grid build‑out obsession
Transmission is the choke point. Policy panels wrestled with permitting reform, cost allocation, and advanced conductors that squeeze more out of existing corridors. On the distribution edge, utilities talked non‑wires alternatives and DER orchestration to shave peaks without waiting a decade for new lines.
What actually shipped (or will)
- Firm clean PPAs: innovative contracts blending wind/solar with batteries and dispatchable assets for 24/7 delivery guarantees.
- Gas peakers with CCS‑readiness: not always capturing on day one, but designed for later retrofits.
- Grid‑scale batteries: 4–8 hour durations getting real contracts; lithium iron phosphate dominates, with flow batteries sniffing niche wins.
Founder and operator notes
- Build for interconnection reality: site where the queue is shorter, plan for grid‑forming inverters, and partner early with utilities.
- Measure methane if you touch gas—satellites, aerial, continuous monitors. If you can’t measure, financiers will assume the worst.
- Design CCUS or hydrogen projects around industrial clusters where offtake is hardwired. Lone‑wolf projects are tourist traps.
The geopolitics layer
Energy security is back in boardroom bold. Sanctions, shipping risk and the global south’s demand growth shape capital flows as much as ESG scorecards. The smartest players are hedging: diversified fuels, diversified routes, diversified politics.
Dates & place: 10–14 March 2025, Houston.
