More than 10,000 energy professionals from around the world descended on Houston this week for the annual CERAWeek conference, the energy “super bowl” according to Politico.

Once entirely dedicated to oil and gas, the conference has in recent years evolved into a broader event covering all types of power – not just molecules but also electrons. The focus this year, however, shifted decidedly back to the conference’s origins. With the Trump administration championing domestic oil and gas production, the renewables folks were often sidelined from the main plenary stage.

But from that lesser perch the message came through loud and clear. To meet the country’s rapidly growing energy needs, getting more hydrocarbons out of the ground alone isn’t going to cut it. The real challenge is turning those hydrocarbons – as well as other forms of energy like solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear – into electricity fast enough to meet unprecedented demand.

Below are a few takeaways from the week:

Trump officials tout American oil & gas

Compared to the last Trump administration’s approach to energy, this one is more America-first, catering less to the interests of multi-national majors and more to those of smaller, domestic producers. This is apparent even in the personnel: instead of folks like Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon, who served as Secretary of State in the previous administration, this cabinet features Chris Wright, whose career focused on shale fracking in the Permian, as Energy Secretary. It’s out with the “globalists,” in with the “wildcatters."

On the CERAWeek stage, Secretary Wright called for increased oil production, particularly along the Gulf Cost. He also announced the approval of a new LNG export facility in Louisiana, marking the third such project under the current administration. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, meanwhile, advocated for increased drilling and mining on public lands.

Whether the oil and gas majors want to produce at higher levels and risk pushing down prices is another story. Torbjorn Tornqvist, the CEO of one of the world’s largest oil traders, Gunvor, told Reuters that oil supply growth is already outstripping demand. ‍

Facing unprecedented load growth, power companies call for “all of the above” strategy

The country faces more load growth in the coming years than at any time since the post-war boom. Several speakers emphasized that data centers are only part of this story; they represent about 30% to 40%, according to EPRI. The rest is driven by unrelated factors like the reshoring of manufacturing and the electrification of transportation and heating.

Echoing the perspective of other Trump appointees, FERC Chairman Mark Christie underscored the critical role of natural gas-fired power plants in meeting the growing demand.

“We're going to build combined-cycle gas to meet this load...we have to because there's no other way to serve it," he said.

NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchem espoused a different view. “We firmly believe in order to [meet demand],we’re going to have to be able to come up with all-of-the-above energy solutions,” he said. “There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. We’re going to need all forms of generation- renewables, gas, and nuclear.”

Ketchem’s perspective is likely informed by the reality of the gas power plant supply chain. GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said at the conference that his company’s backlog of orders for gas turbines, power transformers, and switchgears stretches into 2028.

This means gas has a long “time to power,” as AES Corporation CEO Andres Gluski put it. He noted that in many cases renewables can be added to the grid much faster.

“We need to have a reality check and not talk about this ideologically, but as business people and as engineers,” he said.

Big tech goes nuclear

Nuclear generation got significant airtime at this year’s conference. Amazon, Google and Meta joined a pledge to triple nuclear energy worldwide by 2050.

The Large Energy Users Pledge — backed by the World Nuclear Association — is non-binding but demonstrates the growing support for expanding nuclear power after years of pushback from environmental groups.

"What we've realized is that…we need a whole portfolio of technologies," said Lucy Tian, Google's head of clean energy and decarbonization technologies. "Google has long been one of the largest non-utility purchasers of power from renewable technologies like wind and solar, but our own optimization's modeling shows that actually, if you want to achieve 24/7 carbon-free energy, you need a whole range of technologies that include clean firm resources like nuclear to decarbonize the grid and have affordable, clean and reliable power.”

Constellation highlighted its work to bring a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island back online by 2028, a project made possible by a massive offtake agreement with Microsoft. Meanwhile, TerraPower, a nuclear power company backed by Bill Gates, said it was interested in expanding into Texas.