Five Takeaways from the 2025 Wharton Energy and Climate Conference

Introduction

Having attended the Wharton Energy and Climate Conference in 2023 and 2024, I was eager to return this year for its 17th annual edition.

Held at Convene in Philadelphia on November 7th, 2025, the one-day event brought together executives, startup founders, investors and leaders in the energy sector. “Through keynotes, panels, and both formal and informal conversations throughout the day”, attendees share industry practices and success stories. The event aims to “foster collaboration between the leaders at the forefront of the industry today and those who will shape the industry in the future.”

Here are my five main takeaways from this year’s conference:

1. The Supply-Demand Gap In Energy Is Palpable - and Already Painful

A ke points throughout the conference sessions was that the US power supply is not keeping up with demand. For example, PJM, one of the regional transmission organizations that operates the power grid in 13 states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington DC, predicts that by 2031, data centers could add 22–30 GW of new electricity demand—enough for over 10 million homes—while only 6–12 GW of new supply is expected, enough for about 2.6 million homes. This growing supply-demand gap is driving higher capacity prices for consumers, potentially becoming the “new normal.”

Source: BloombergNEF

Prices are already high, and this gap is only expected to grow, especially with growing electricity demands from data centers. With old power plants retiring and long lead times for new generation, the US is facing a pressing need for more baseload power, which was highlighted by David, Vahos CEO of PECO Power in his opening keynote address.

2. Power Sources? “All of the Above” is the Strategy

Given the high and growing energy demand, no single source will solve the problem. Nuclear, coal, natural gas, geothermal, solar, and wind all need to be part of the solution mix. Interestingly, geothermal is experiencing a resurgence as — unlike other energy sources — (a) it is backed by all sides of the political spectrum and (b) attracts talent from the oil and gas industry: instead of digging for oil and/gas, folks have found a new, related calling in digging for hot rocks/water.

Here’s an excellent overview of geothermal energy industry in 2025 from one of my favorite data and media companies, Bloomberg.com:

3. The Grid Must Evolve

The power grid of the future is more than transmission lines; it’s about distributed generation and flexibility. Customers—including large energy users like data centers—are now expected to bring some of their own capacity to the grid. Smart grids, AI, and real-time monitoring are helping utilities and tech companies coordinate, but the bottlenecks are still real, especially in interconnection queues.

Notably, even in Nvdia’s backyard, in Santa Clara, CA, new data centers may stay unconnected to the grid for years as they lack the electrical capacity to power them. The projects remain idle shells while the utility completes its own $450 million grid upgrade, which is not scheduled to finish until 2028. This power shortage is a major challenge for data center development, driven by the high energy demands of AI and cloud computing. 

One possible solution highlighted during the conference is Tapestry, a Google X Moonshot project using AI to make the grid smarter, more reliable, and sustainable. It highlights how tools like the Grid Planning Tool and GridAware are tackling outages, rising costs, and maintenance challenges—paving the way for a cleaner energy future.

4. Collaboration Between Tech and Energy is Increasing

Until recently, the tech and power worlds operated separately. AI, data centers, and electrification have created a collision course that demands cooperation. Energy developers, tech companies, regulators, and investors now need to work together to meet rising demand and keep prices manageable. See for example, the recent announcement by Microsoft that it would purchase all the electricity generated by a restarted nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island complex in Pennsylvania.

Indeed, more and more companies are beginning to recognize the need to collaborate with utility power companies. Google has also signed a deal last year to develop a fleet of small modular reactor (SMR) projects, which would provide 500 megawatts of new 24/7 carbon-free energy to the U.S. electricity grids. The plan is to bring the first SMR online by 2030, followed by additional reactor construction through 2035. There are currently no SMRs online in the U.S., and apparently only one design has received full regulatory approval to date.

5. Sustainability Remains Relevant

Even though the current political climate is more fossil fuel-friendly - a palpable shift from a year ago, sustainability has thankfully not disappeared from the conversation.

Private sector players are still willing to pay for renewable energy solutions, like solar paired with battery storage, particularly when reliability and long-term cost savings are clear. While “climate” was a lot less emphasized this year (and at least two panelists highlighted that…), green energy use and investing in renewables remains central to many large companies.

Admittedly, during 2025, renewables face headwinds after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rolled back key clean energy tax credits and added new restrictions, causing wind and solar investments to drop 18% in the first half of the year. Despite this, renewables still led U.S. capacity growth—93% of new additions (30.2 GW) came from renewables, with solar and storage making up 83%.

Concluding Thoughts

With Wharton MBA Candidate and conference co-host, Sarah Gurbach.

The overarching theme was clear: meeting growing energy demand in the age of AI, electrification, and digital growth will require partnership, innovation, and forward-looking policy.

Overall, I thought the event was well executed and insightful— and it easily matched any high expectations one may have about the dedication and professionalism of Wharton MBA students who organized it.

From coordinating high-profile sponsors to managing a packed schedule of panels and speakers, the student-run Wharton Energy Club pulled off a top notch and engaging conference, recognized even by the speakers and panelists themselves. Fantastic work! and See you next year.