Members of the Evergreen Climate Innovations team recently spent an insightful week participating in conversations at Aspen Ideas Climate in Chicago and at surrounding events. Across main-stage panels, breakout sessions, and hallway chats, several clear themes emerged regarding where the climate and energy ecosystem is headed.
The Grid & Data Centers: Friends or Foes?
Unsurprisingly, the massive surge in electricity demand driven by data centers dominated the agenda. Stakeholders agreed on the urgency of grid bottlenecks, though opinions varied on solutions—ranging from splitting off large loads to expanding the use of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) and non-firm service models. Regional grid operator PJM faces heavy interconnection queue backlogs and existential challenges related to capacity shortages and governance; meanwhile, local Illinois utility ComEd was highlighted for proactive queue management practices.
Hyperscalers have expressed willingness to fund their own power additions, but regulatory and utility structures aren’t yet optimized for ensuring this happens cleanly. Meanwhile, investor sentiment leaned cautious, citing queue congestion, policy friction, and evolving technology (like increasing the amount of interference that can happen at the grid edge).
Panelists discuss what to do about data center load growth at the panel Lights On, Bills Low: Building the Grid We Need
Beyond Buzzwords: Focus on Resilience & Economics
While “ESG” as a buzzword has receded, institutional focus on climate risk, supply chain resilience, and regional competitiveness remains strong. Regulatory shifts and tax credit uncertainties continue to pressure new wind developments, even as other solutions like battery storage experience increased demand from deployments helping to improve resiliency and peak capacity.
Evergreen Board Member Noelle Laing of Builders Vision moderates the panel “Boring is the Bottom Line, alongside Alfred Johnson, Co-Founder & CEO, Crux, John Oxtoby, SVP, Director of Sustainable Investment Research, and Kyung-Ah Park, Chief Sustainability Officer, Temasek International (USA)
Different Stages, Different Topics
Comparing and contrasting this event with those at London Climate Action Week, US conversations centered heavily on “speed to power,” while data center load growth was a factor, but not the dominant area of focus at most events in London.
Beyond the grid, team members reported back compelling discussions around water security (such as the Colorado River crisis), human decisionmaking in assessing climate weather risks, and the dynamical political and policy environment (the latter featured on a live taping of the Political Climate podcast.
We appreciated the opportunity to attend such a dynamic and useful event in our own backyard and connect with key stakeholders who are working to address our climate crisis via a broad ranged of approaches (while attendees appreciated summer in Chicago). For those who couldn’t make it, you can check out recordings of the sessions on Aspen’s Youtube Page.
