The Current Revolution
“We’re going to electrify nearly all of our energy system,” Gerard Reid of Alexa Capital told an energy industry panel discussion at the World Economic Forum 2025 as part of the Davos Accredited Program. Why? “It’s clean, it’s efficient, it’s low cost. And not one of our digital devices can survive without electricity.”
That was how Gerard, as moderator, set the framework for the discussion, arguing that the digitalization of nearly everything we depend on in life and in business makes the long-term trend towards electrification unstoppable.
“We are actually talking about a supercycle in electricity,” he added. “I can do without coal. I can do without oil,” said Gerard. “I cannot do without electricity.”
This energy transition is not about a single breakthrough or any particular technology in isolation. It hinges instead on creating a fully integrated system where renewables, storage, and digitalization work in harmony. This holistic approach, as emphasized by the panelists, is the key to building a sustainable and resilient energy future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro6fu875ShU
The Forces Driving Demand
AI’s impact on energy goes beyond just increasing demand. Advances in AI could transform how electricity is generated, distributed, and stored. Hitachi Energy CEO, Andreas Schierenbeck, believes that AI will prove to be an asset in the energy transition. “The age of electricity is fueled by AI and electrification,” he said. “On the other hand, AI will contribute a big part to solving that riddle—to deal with the challenges of today and tomorrow to make the grid more resilient, safer, and cheaper.”
The race to create more powerful AI to accelerate innovation for comparative advantage is seen as an urgent priority.
But, because in many countries most power is generated using fossil fuels, the race for AI threatens to derail or delay plans to decarbonize energy. “Everybody uses generative AI, and we have to reduce CO2 emissions. We have to provide a sustainable power supply while ensuring carbon neutrality,” explained Toshiaki Higashihara, Executive Chairman of Hitachi, Ltd.
But where will all this electricity come from?
Building the Future Grid
“Last year, we installed across the world 600 gigawatts of solar,” Gerard noted, compared to a mere four gigawatts of nuclear capacity added in the same period. The reason for solar’s explosive growth is straightforward: it is inexpensive, easy to install, and continually improving in performance.
However, integrating renewables such as solar at scale means incorporating other technologies into the overall energy system to ensure it is reliable, affordable, and sustainable. Toshiaki emphasized the necessity of taking a holistic approach to the energy transition. “Hitachi provides a total system for renewable energy, solar power or wind power, to control the storage and, depending on the next days’ weather, we can control the charge or discharge schedule,” he explained.
Storage and energy management systems play critical roles in supporting the clean energy rollout, along with other essential components. Elisabeth Vike Vardheim, CEO of Norwegian utility Statnett SF, emphasized one such linchpin: a robust grid.
“There will not be any transition without transmission,” she said.
Long-distance transmission allows grids to draw from far-flung renewable resources, which provides greater reliability. Norway, powered largely by hydropower, has leaned on 17 interconnectors—links to neighboring grids—for decades, exporting surplus energy and importing when needed.
“Having interconnectors is part of energy security, it’s part of value creation—we both import and export, and in an ordinary year, the price is quite good actually,” Elisabeth added.
The Statnett CEO emphasized the need to fortify the resilience of international grids: “We mustn't forget that Europe is the world's most interconnected power system.” And Andreas elaborated on the tradeoffs between energy independence and interconnection: "Either we isolate ourselves and build it on our own… that means higher prices, more taxpayer money, or we have interconnectors and share risk as a community."
Local reluctance to support new infrastructure presents a challenge. “The biggest hurdle for the energy transition is that we are dealing with people,” said Andreas. “Nobody wants to have anything in their backyard. Not a cable, not an overhead line, not a coal-fired plant, not a gas plant, not to mention a nuclear asset.”
“We have to do that in a way which is technically acceptable for society,” he concluded.
Energy storage, energy management, and power transmission are at the center of the transition so far, but the potential to draw on clean, firm sources like nuclear power will also play an increasingly important role in the long term. Toshiaki highlighted the huge potential of small modular reactors (SMR). “Now we are developing a 300-megawatt SMR in a joint venture between Hitachi and GE,” he said.
From the left: Andreas Schierenbeck, Toshiaki Higashihara, Elisabeth Vike Vardheim, and Gerard Reid
Seizing the Energy Supercycle
The global energy transition is no longer a distant vision—it is unfolding in real-time. Success will depend on a bold, multi-faceted approach: scaling renewables, deploying advanced storage, fortifying grids, and integrating emerging technologies like small modular reactors. Each of these solutions carries trade-offs, but, as Andreas pointed out, waiting for perfection is not an option. “We don’t have unlimited time and budgets, so we have to go for compromises. Going for a solution which is 80% more efficient and sustainable than doing nothing is still a better way… we have to find compromises on all levels,” he said.
For Elisabeth of Statnett, the future is already here, and the need to implement solutions is immediate: “2030 is today and 2050 is tomorrow… we need to rethink how we collaborate. We have no time to sit around and wait for someone else to pick up the bill.”
The urgency is clear—but speed alone is not enough. The challenge ahead calls for high-level coordination between key players: utilities like Statnett strengthening grids, innovators like Hitachi deploying clean technologies, and policymakers ensuring a stable, amenable framework, not just for the energy transition but the energy supercycle that now has its own momentum.
Ensuring that the energy future is both abundant and clean requires more than just scaling individual technologies. Rather, it demands a holistic approach.
Watch the full panel, Why the Energy Supercycle is Unstoppable, below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmqpyJMgVSI
