Efficient AI infrastructure
About 30% of Schneider's business now comes from power, cooling, and related infrastructure for data centers. Last year, Switch, one of the largest data center operators in the U.S., handed Schneider its biggest North American cooling contract ever, worth $1.9 billion. —Joe Mullich and Jessica Hullinger
Chevron
Military moves of early 2026 pushed Venezuela toward the center of the global energy universe, giving Chevron, the only major American oil company operating there, extraordinary power to control the supply. Venezuela’s estimated 303 billion barrels represent the largest proven oil reserves of any country, and when the U.S. captured President Nicolás Maduro in January, American leaders envisioned a gusher of supply from a controllable source near Gulf Coast refineries built to handle the heavy crude. The conflict in Iran changed the landscape further, disrupting Middle East supply routes, hiking oil prices, and making the Western hemisphere source appealing. But despite pressure from the Trump Administration on U.S. oil giants to rapidly ramp up investment in Venezuela, Chevron has pumped the brakes, pledging to boost output gradually and not chase price fluctuations. “Chevron has been in Venezuela for over a century,” CEO Mike Wirth told shareholders in January. “We remain committed to leveraging our deep expertise and long-standing partnerships for the benefit of our shareholders and the people of Venezuela.” —Don Steinberg
In 2025, Danish turbine maker Vestas hit a major milestone, surpassing 200 gigawatts of installed wind capacity worldwide—the first manufacturer to do so. Its turbines, located in 88 countries, now generate enough electricity to power tens of millions of homes and avoid hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions each year. Vestas’ newer turbines are built on its modular EnVentus platform, which allows core components to be reused and adapted. That lets developers tailor turbines to local wind conditions while simplifying manufacturing, transport, and maintenance. But Vestas is also trying to reduce its own waste: As of last year, at least 85% of its turbine parts were recyclable. The wind industry faces a complicated landscape of rising costs, supply-chain pressures, and policy uncertainty. But as conflicts overseas threaten oil supplies, Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen says the company’s fleet is key to "energy security and affordability, as countries seek stable, home‑grown power sources that reduce exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets." —Aimee Rawlins
Redwood Materials
Every EV comes with a battery pack that starts aging as soon as the car hits the road. With more than 1 million EVs sold in the U.S. each year—and a battery lifespan of 10 to 15 years—that's a lot of waste, especially considering the environmental toll of mining the critical minerals inside those batteries. But it's also a massive opportunity, one that Redwood Materials is taking advantage of. The company, started nearly a decade ago, set out to recover and recycle minerals from old batteries. Today, it receives over 20 gigawatt-hours of batteries annually, which is the capacity of roughly 250,000 EVs. Last year, Redwood announced the launch of Redwood Energy, aimed at turning old batteries that still have capacity into large-scale energy storage systems. The first such installation is now operating in Nevada, where more than 800 battery packs power a 12 megawatt data center; it's the largest second-life battery deployment in the world. "This is something that's going to grow very, very rapidly," says chief commercial officer Cal Lankton. "Second-life batteries could provide up to 50% of all of the U.S. grid storage needs by 2030 or 2031." —Aimee Rawlins
The world’s biggest oil company is also, by some measures, the most profitable company of any kind, perhaps in history. Last year it raked in $104.7 billion in profits, or nearly $287 million a day. Sure, the U.S. pumps more barrels of oil, as President Trump regularly boasts. But it costs the Saudis a fraction to produce theirs, and they can store excess barrels in tankers in the desert, acting as the last-resort supplier in crises like the Iran war; even as Iranian drones blasted Saudi Arabia, Aramco piped 7 million barrels a day to the kingdom’s Red Sea port.
NextEra Energy
Electric-utility heavyweight
As data centers transform the U.S. power sector, NextEra is also exploring new business models, including a partnership with Google to build new power plants alongside new data centers. “It’s about getting every electron on the grid that we possibly can,” John Ketchum, the company’s CEO, said in March at the CERAWeek energy conference. —Justin Worland
As global energy demand rises, nuclear power is experiencing something of a renaissance. With a $300 million state grant, a $1.52 billion loan from the Department of Energy, and a 30-year power purchase agreement from two cooperatives, Holtec International has spent the last several years working to bring Michigan's dormant Palisades nuclear plant back online. Despite delays to the project, Patrick O'Brien, Holtec's director of government affairs and communications, says the restart is on track for the first half of 2026. This would make Palisades the first U.S. nuclear plant to whir back to life after being decommissioned. And with at least two other shuttered nuclear plants looking to follow suit, the energy industry is watching Holtec’s progress closely for clues about the feasibility of our nuclear future. "Being a historic restart is important," says O'Brien. "I think it's helped show the industry [what's possible]." —Aimee Rawlins
Emerald AI
AI is driving up demand for power around the world, contributing to rising prices and supply crunch fears. Emerald AI, launched last year, is flipping the script. The startup uses software to shift electricity demand, orchestrating when and where AI workloads run based on grid conditions and the specific performance requirements. It’s a huge market. Duke University research has estimated that the existing U.S. grid could accommodate roughly 100 gigawatts of new flexible load, a massive figure equal to more than one-tenth of U.S. peak power demand. If it succeeds, Emerald AI could become a critical layer at the intersection of energy and AI globally.
The company has strong tailwinds. Emerald AI made a splash in 2025 with a $24.5 million seed round backed by Nvidia and a long list of prominent climate investors including John Doerr and John Kerry. In March, the company announced a plan alongside Nvidia to bring together top power companies to build AI facilities that can adjust to the challenges and needs of the power grid. —Justin Worland
Enhanced geothermal energy has largely maintained bipartisan support in America even as other renewables find themselves in the political crosshairs. Fervo Energy is at the front of the pack. The Houston-based company uses fracking techniques honed by the oil and gas industry to create underground hot-rock reservoirs that heat water to create electricity. This year, Fervo’s Cape Station in Utah is scheduled to start delivering power to the grid; when it reaches full capacity of 500 megawatts, it will be the nation’s first large-scale commercial enhanced geothermal plant. In February, Fervo recorded temperatures of 555 degrees Fahrenheit at another Utah site called Project Blanford. This is Fervo’s hottest well yet, and further underscores the technology’s potential for harnessing geothermal heat for clean energy at scale. "It's hard to find something that can [deliver] reliable 24/7 energy, that's carbon free, and can be constructed in a timely manner,” Fervo CEO Tim Latimer says. “It's energy without a lot of the compromises." The company announced plans to go public in April 2026. —Aimee Rawlins
Base Power
Base Power has pioneered a unique business model that's good for both strained power grids and customers who need affordable, reliable back-up power. The Austin, Texas-based energy utility leases homeowners batteries, eliminating the high up-front costs of buying one outright. The batteries can charge directly from the grid, or from homeowners’ solar panels; when energy demand is high, Base sells excess power from these batteries, balancing the grid and keeping customers' costs low. In just two years since its public launch, Base has raised $1.3 billion to deploy some 10,000 home batteries across Texas. So far, its model has worked especially well in Texas’ largely deregulated energy market where customers can choose their energy provider. But this year, the company began partnering with other utilities to deploy its batteries in regulated markets throughout the state, and it has sights on other parts of the country. In March, Base Power opened its first battery factory, and has broken ground on a second. "Energy is the last great industry that's gone undisrupted," says CEO Zach Dell. "Our view is, let's do to energy what SpaceX did to aerospace and Anduril did to defense and Tesla did to autos." —Aimee Rawlins
The original version of this story misstated the business relationship between Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and Aramco. He is not the chair of Aramco's board; he chairs the sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is governed by the chair of Aramco's board.
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