The Energy Transition Has One Big Metal Problem

Copper could become the defining materials bottleneck of the energy transition. Demand is set to rise 60% by 2050, while declining ore quality and a lack of new mines threaten a significant supply gap. Can innovation and substitution ease the crunch, or will copper constrain the transition? On toda…

China’s Data Center Boom Goes Where Power Is Cheap

China is steering its data center boom toward where power is plentiful and cheaper. National computing hubs are concentrating large projects in areas where land, electricity and fiber can be planned together. As capacity more than doubles through 2030, power-intensive computing is increasingly shif…

Lula's Next Test is an Energy Crunch: Analyst Reaction

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will enter his fourth term with an energy system transformed by electrification. The country’s rapid wind and solar growth has created a curtailment crisis, weighing on investment and increasing the need for greater grid flexibility and power-market ref…

Europe’s Energy Strategy Faces the Cost of Dependence

Europe’s energy shocks have exposed the cost of energy dependence. The loss of Russian gas accelerated investment in renewables and liquefied natural gas, but high prices, infrastructure bottlenecks and new import dependencies remain. Greater electrification could improve resilience by making bette…

Oil Shock Puts Heat Pumps in Play: Analyst Reaction

The economics of heating your home are shifting. Whether a heat pump saves money increasingly depends on what heats your home, where you live and when you use electricity. Heating oil prices have surged to a two-decade high in the US, EU and UK, dramatically improving the economics of switching for…

Gas Turbine Makers Cash In on Global Power Rush

Gas turbines are a hot topic. Orders for this critical piece of infrastructure are surging alongside rising power demand and the need to refurbish aging power plants. Data centers are adding urgency, particularly in the US, and scarce delivery slots are pushing prices higher. Manufacturers are expa…

Europe's Power Markets Face a New Balancing Act

Europe’s power mix is changing fast. Ample output from wind, solar and nuclear means that northwest Europe could require significantly less power from fossil fuels this winter than last. At the same time, rising electricity demand from EVs and data centers is shifting market dynamics across Europe,…

Where Transition Risk Meets Corporate Opportunity

The energy transition is reshaping how companies make money. BNEF’s new Transition Risk and Opportunities Outlook models revenues for more than 70,000 companies as demand shifts across energy, transport and commodities. Businesses exposed to renewables, grids, EVs and transition metals could benefi…

Water Stress Brings Risks for Thirsty Power Generators

Power plants have a water problem that’s getting harder to ignore. Coal, gas and nuclear facilities rely heavily on water for cooling, leaving some exposed as drought and heat intensify pressure on freshwater supplies. Wind and solar generation have a dramatically lower dependence on water, but the…

Global Gas Tug of War Is Brewing for Winter

Europe’s gas market is heading into winter with little room for error. Lower storage levels and disruption in the Middle East have left the region more exposed to weather and competition for LNG. BNEF’s base case sees European storage falling to 21% by the end of March, but a prolonged Strait of Ho…