CERAWeek 2026: Renewables, Hydrogen, Carbon Capture, and Clean Energy

Overarching Narrative Shift

“Energy security” has replaced “energy transition” as the dominant framing at CERAWeek 2026.
One executive: “Four or five years ago, it was a climate-driven conversation. It’s now more of a security-driven conversation.”
The corporate climate case has “largely been supplanted by the case for diversification.”
Global clean energy investment surpassed $2.2 trillion in 2025, driven not by climate pledges alone but by energy security, economic competition, and industrial policy.
The transition has shifted from ambition to execution: less focus on headline net-zero declarations, more on whether grids, factories, and ports actually get built on time.

Sources: S&P Global, AGA

Offshore Wind: Major Setback

TotalEnergies agreed to terminate its offshore wind lease projects in the US and redirect $928 million into oil, gas, and LNG production (announced Day 1 at CERAWeek with Secretary Burgum).
The Trump administration is actively campaigning against existing and future US offshore wind development.
Legal questions raised about whether the Interior Department can lawfully execute the wind-to-oil swap arrangement.

Sources: S&P Global, Canary Media, DOI Press Release

Nuclear Energy

Microsoft-NVIDIA “AI for Nuclear” Partnership

Announced at CERAWeek on March 24.
Partnership to streamline permitting, design, and operations of nuclear power plants using AI.
Will build a “connected, AI-powered foundation” of AI tools to make nuclear work “repeatable, traceable, secure, and predictable.”
Goal: move nuclear companies from “highly customized engineering” toward “repeatable, reference-based delivery.”
AI tools can identify documentation inconsistencies, unify data across plant construction lifecycle, and support digital twins.

Aalo Atomics

Reduced the time-intensive permitting process by 92% using the Microsoft Generative AI for Permitting solution.
Saving an estimated $80 million per year.
Presented at CERAWeek session: “A Digital Age for Nuclear: Aalo Atomics, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.”
Idaho National Laboratory also participating as an early adopter.

Trump Administration Nuclear Policy

Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated the administration is working to launch an “American nuclear renaissance,” including both fission and fusion.
Nuclear is a favored energy source for the administration.

Sources: Microsoft Blog, Axios, ANS Nuclear Newswire, Techloy

Hydrogen

Mitsubishi Power Hydrogen Projects

Advanced-class turbines have demonstrated 50% hydrogen blending, achieving approximately a 22% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with 100% natural-gas combustion.
Hydrogen-ready JAC turbines across partnerships with Malakoff (Malaysia) and PacificLight (Singapore).
A major project will initially blend 30% hydrogen in 2025, gradually ramping up to 100% by 2035.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has shifted the focus of its hydrogen business from Japan to the US market, with the CEO stating: “The energy transition is going to happen in the US first.”
More than 100 GW of gas generation awarded globally in 2025, with hydrogen expected to play a key role in enabling lower-carbon gas turbine operations over time.

Innovation Agora Coverage

Hydrogen was a featured topic in the Innovation Agora, which included a dedicated hub zone for “New Energies.”
Hydrogen covered as one of the 16 conference themes.

Sources: Mitsubishi Power, Mitsubishi Power, S&P Global

Carbon Capture and Emissions

Carbon capture was addressed as part of the Innovation Agora’s “Carbon & Climate” hub zone.
The broader discussion reflected industry shifts: the corporate climate case has been supplanted by the case for diversification.
Lower-emissions solutions described as “deployable today and improving fast.”
Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub discussed how producers are adapting portfolio strategies to balance resilience, demand outlooks, and transition pressures (Occidental is a major player in direct air capture through its 1PointFive subsidiary).

Sources: Williams Companies, CCarbon

Decarbonization Investment

Breakthrough Energy

Announced final close of $450 million for its Decarbonization Acceleration Fund (DAF).
Second fund and first Growth Equity vehicle.
Focused on scaling breakthrough decarbonization technologies.

VitaminC Climate Fund

Announced first close of $21 million for its debut VitaminC Climate Fund.

Additional Deals

$385 million across two deals for utility-scale energy storage project development.
$250 million for energy efficiency as a service.
$52 million for physical AI-powered robo-labor.

Sources: CTVC

AI and Power: Flexible Grid Solutions

NVIDIA-Emerald AI Flexible AI Factory Partnership

Announced March 23 at CERAWeek.
NVIDIA and Emerald AI partnering with AES, Constellation, Invenergy, NextEra Energy, Nscale Energy Power, and Vistra.
New class of AI factories that operate as flexible energy assets supporting the grid.
Uses the NVIDIA Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design with DSX Flex software library.
Reads real-time dispatch signals from utilities and coordinates compute load shedding with batteries/generation.
Expected deployment at commercial scale later in 2026 at the NVIDIA AI Factory Research Center in Virginia.

Sources: NVIDIA Newsroom, Fortune

NextEra Energy

Announced a giant natural gas-fired power plant in Texas aimed at powering the booming data center industry (March 23).

Sources: Ad-Hoc News

Hitachi Energy

Investing more than $1 billion in the United States, including a $457 million large power transformer facility in South Boston, Virginia.
Committed around $300 million in Canada to expand transformer manufacturing.

Sources: Hitachi Energy

Renewables and Grid Integration

Wind and solar supplied roughly 36% of demand in Texas’ ERCOT market in the first nine months of 2025.
Renewable penetration continues to increase, adding complexity to grid operations.
Battery storage solutions discussed: software-controlled batteries allow data centers to switch to stored power during demand peaks.
Electricity demand driven by AI is growing faster than installed generation and transmission capacity.

Sources: Houston Public Media, Inspenet

Critical Minerals

Conference sessions on “Minerals and Mining” addressed rising demand and national security implications.
China controls roughly 70% of refining capacity for lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earths (IEA data).
Demand for these materials must triple by 2030 to meet net-zero goals.
US DFC converted a $31 million loan to Syrah Resources (graphite, Mozambique) into a 20% equity stake, plus $15 million additional disbursement.
Syrah’s Louisiana facility is the first US supplier of natural graphite (key battery material).
Question raised at conference: whether enough copper will be available to meet electrification needs.

Sources: MINING.COM, CERAWeek Minerals and Mining, ODI

Climate Policy at CERAWeek

Energy Secretary Chris Wright described climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world.”
Pledged to “end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change.”
Called himself a “climate realist,” not a climate change denier.
Oil Change International responded critically to Wright’s speech.

Sources: Renewable Energy World, Oil Change International, Heatmap News

Overarching Narrative Shift

“Energy security” has replaced “energy transition” as the dominant framing at CERAWeek 2026.
One executive: “Four or five years ago, it was a climate-driven conversation. It’s now more of a security-driven conversation.”
The corporate climate case has “largely been supplanted by the case for diversification.”
Global clean energy investment surpassed $2.2 trillion in 2025, driven not by climate pledges alone but by energy security, economic competition, and industrial policy.
The transition has shifted from ambition to execution: less focus on headline net-zero declarations, more on whether grids, factories, and ports actually get built on time.

Sources: S&P Global, AGA

Offshore Wind: Major Setback

TotalEnergies agreed to terminate its offshore wind lease projects in the US and redirect $928 million into oil, gas, and LNG production (announced Day 1 at CERAWeek with Secretary Burgum).
The Trump administration is actively campaigning against existing and future US offshore wind development.
Legal questions raised about whether the Interior Department can lawfully execute the wind-to-oil swap arrangement.

Sources: S&P Global, Canary Media, DOI Press Release

Nuclear Energy

Microsoft-NVIDIA “AI for Nuclear” Partnership

Announced at CERAWeek on March 24.
Partnership to streamline permitting, design, and operations of nuclear power plants using AI.
Will build a “connected, AI-powered foundation” of AI tools to make nuclear work “repeatable, traceable, secure, and predictable.”
Goal: move nuclear companies from “highly customized engineering” toward “repeatable, reference-based delivery.”
AI tools can identify documentation inconsistencies, unify data across plant construction lifecycle, and support digital twins.

Aalo Atomics

Reduced the time-intensive permitting process by 92% using the Microsoft Generative AI for Permitting solution.
Saving an estimated $80 million per year.
Presented at CERAWeek session: “A Digital Age for Nuclear: Aalo Atomics, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.”
Idaho National Laboratory also participating as an early adopter.

Trump Administration Nuclear Policy

Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated the administration is working to launch an “American nuclear renaissance,” including both fission and fusion.
Nuclear is a favored energy source for the administration.

Sources: Microsoft Blog, Axios, ANS Nuclear Newswire, Techloy

Hydrogen

Mitsubishi Power Hydrogen Projects

Advanced-class turbines have demonstrated 50% hydrogen blending, achieving approximately a 22% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with 100% natural-gas combustion.
Hydrogen-ready JAC turbines across partnerships with Malakoff (Malaysia) and PacificLight (Singapore).
A major project will initially blend 30% hydrogen in 2025, gradually ramping up to 100% by 2035.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has shifted the focus of its hydrogen business from Japan to the US market, with the CEO stating: “The energy transition is going to happen in the US first.”
More than 100 GW of gas generation awarded globally in 2025, with hydrogen expected to play a key role in enabling lower-carbon gas turbine operations over time.

Innovation Agora Coverage

Hydrogen was a featured topic in the Innovation Agora, which included a dedicated hub zone for “New Energies.”
Hydrogen covered as one of the 16 conference themes.

Sources: Mitsubishi Power, Mitsubishi Power, S&P Global

Carbon Capture and Emissions

Carbon capture was addressed as part of the Innovation Agora’s “Carbon & Climate” hub zone.
The broader discussion reflected industry shifts: the corporate climate case has been supplanted by the case for diversification.
Lower-emissions solutions described as “deployable today and improving fast.”
Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub discussed how producers are adapting portfolio strategies to balance resilience, demand outlooks, and transition pressures (Occidental is a major player in direct air capture through its 1PointFive subsidiary).

Sources: Williams Companies, CCarbon

Decarbonization Investment

Breakthrough Energy

Announced final close of $450 million for its Decarbonization Acceleration Fund (DAF).
Second fund and first Growth Equity vehicle.
Focused on scaling breakthrough decarbonization technologies.

VitaminC Climate Fund

Announced first close of $21 million for its debut VitaminC Climate Fund.

Additional Deals

$385 million across two deals for utility-scale energy storage project development.
$250 million for energy efficiency as a service.
$52 million for physical AI-powered robo-labor.

Sources: CTVC

AI and Power: Flexible Grid Solutions

NVIDIA-Emerald AI Flexible AI Factory Partnership

Announced March 23 at CERAWeek.
NVIDIA and Emerald AI partnering with AES, Constellation, Invenergy, NextEra Energy, Nscale Energy Power, and Vistra.
New class of AI factories that operate as flexible energy assets supporting the grid.
Uses the NVIDIA Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design with DSX Flex software library.
Reads real-time dispatch signals from utilities and coordinates compute load shedding with batteries/generation.
Expected deployment at commercial scale later in 2026 at the NVIDIA AI Factory Research Center in Virginia.

Sources: NVIDIA Newsroom, Fortune

NextEra Energy

Announced a giant natural gas-fired power plant in Texas aimed at powering the booming data center industry (March 23).

Sources: Ad-Hoc News

Hitachi Energy

Investing more than $1 billion in the United States, including a $457 million large power transformer facility in South Boston, Virginia.
Committed around $300 million in Canada to expand transformer manufacturing.

Sources: Hitachi Energy

Renewables and Grid Integration

Wind and solar supplied roughly 36% of demand in Texas’ ERCOT market in the first nine months of 2025.
Renewable penetration continues to increase, adding complexity to grid operations.
Battery storage solutions discussed: software-controlled batteries allow data centers to switch to stored power during demand peaks.
Electricity demand driven by AI is growing faster than installed generation and transmission capacity.

Sources: Houston Public Media, Inspenet

Critical Minerals

Conference sessions on “Minerals and Mining” addressed rising demand and national security implications.
China controls roughly 70% of refining capacity for lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earths (IEA data).
Demand for these materials must triple by 2030 to meet net-zero goals.
US DFC converted a $31 million loan to Syrah Resources (graphite, Mozambique) into a 20% equity stake, plus $15 million additional disbursement.
Syrah’s Louisiana facility is the first US supplier of natural graphite (key battery material).
Question raised at conference: whether enough copper will be available to meet electrification needs.

Sources: MINING.COM, CERAWeek Minerals and Mining, ODI

Climate Policy at CERAWeek

Energy Secretary Chris Wright described climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world.”
Pledged to “end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change.”
Called himself a “climate realist,” not a climate change denier.
Oil Change International responded critically to Wright’s speech.

Sources: Renewable Energy World, Oil Change International, Heatmap News