Energy Evolution

By most conventional metrics, the European refining sector is in rude health. The Middle East conflict has driven key fuel price benchmarks to unprecedented heights, and refiners are running flat out to plug supply gaps left by disruptions to key Gulf exporters.

In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte speaks to Kelly Norways, senior editor at S&P Global Energy Platts, who explains why the current boom has so far failed to shift many refiners' thinking about the long-term competitiveness of Europe as a fuel production hub, and why that disconnect threatens both the region's energy security and its ambitions for investment in low-carbon technologies.

They explore how governments across the continent are responding to a wave of refinery closures that predates the conflict, whether the crisis has genuinely changed the political calculus in the region, and what it would actually take to unlock the scale of capital spending the sector needs to survive and decarbonize.

We also hear from Elizabeth de Jong, CEO of Fuels Industry UK, a trade association representing the country's downstream sector. She sets out the industry's case to be included in the UK's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, explains why record refining margins represent a temporary distortion rather than a structural fix, and warns that without a decisive government signal on carbon costs and competitiveness, Europe risks emerging from this crisis in a weaker position than when it began.

Alongside a surge in data center construction, a growing protest movement has emerged in the US, with locals voicing concerns over electricity and water usage. Protests have put around 12 gigawatts of data center capacity at risk, analyst John Murray from S&P Global Energy tells the Energy Evolution podcast. To address concerns, tech firms need to improve transparency and deliver clear local benefits, said Darrell West, senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation within the Governance Studies program at think tank Brookings.
To answer questions on sustainability and power consumption, host Camilla Naschert is joined by Aaron Tinjum of trade association Data Center Coalition.
The news clip featured in this episode is from ABC News, July 19, 2026.

The EU wants to nearly double its electrification rate to 46% by 2040, a transformation that would slash fossil fuel imports by hundreds of billions of euros annually. In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte examines the EU's Electrification Action Plan and assesses whether Europe can realistically achieve it.
Coralie Laurencin, director of European gas, power and carbon policy at S&P Global Energy CERA, and Andreas Franke, editorial lead on European power markets at S&P Global Energy Platts, unpack the formidable challenges: stubbornly high electricity costs, taxation and subsidy structures, and massive grid investments needed to support surging demand.
The conversation breaks down which sectors will electrify fastest and which face steeper obstacles, from Germany's industrial power subsidies to France's nuclear-backed power contracts. As geopolitical instability threatens global supply chains, electrification has emerged as the EU's answer to energy security, climate ambition, and industrial competitiveness, but only if Brussels can make electricity both abundant and affordable.

Balcony or "plug-in" solar is rapidly gaining popularity, as it gives consumers who might not have easy access to distributed solar generation a straightforward way to deploy the technology and begin saving on their power bills. Meanwhile, as drivers transition to electric vehicles, the possibility of deploying the batteries as a flexible grid resource hooked up to bidirectional chargers is also growing.
These new technologies are allowing residential utility customers to take greater control over their electricity consumption and spending. But wider adoption has implications for grid safety and reliability, and several states are already moving to regulate and manage the addition of these resources.
In this episode, Dan Testa discusses these issues with Kirsten Errick, an S&P Global Energy reporter who covers renewables. Kirsten interviews Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, a plug-in solar company, and Aseem Kapur, chief revenue officer at GM Energy.

In April 2026, the European Commission adopted interim guidance stipulating that solar and battery storage projects using inverters or power conversion systems sourced from high-risk countries would be ineligible for EU funding, citing concerns over cybersecurity and grid resilience. Among the affected countries is China, Europe's dominant supplier of clean energy technologies.
In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte is joined by Lena Dias Martins, electricity pricing reporter at S&P Global Energy Platts, to explore the implications of this policy for Europe's rapidly expanding solar and battery storage sectors.
They examine how markets have responded, which regions may be most affected, and whether viable alternatives to China-made inverters are available at scale.
The episode features Cormac Gilligan, director of clean technologies and supply chains at S&P Global Energy Horizons, who explains how the restrictions could signal the start of a broader global shift toward greater diversification of clean energy supply chains.
We also hear from Jan Krčmář, executive director of the Czech Solar Association, who shares the industry perspective on the practical challenges facing developers and installers, how the sector is responding to the new requirements, and what the changes could mean for solar deployment across Europe in the years ahead.