The Mintz 2025 Annual Energy Transition Summit: Shaping Our Energy Future – The Path Forward

How will the escalating energy demands of a tech-fueled future be met as the world undergoes a complex and uncertain energy transition?

For our fourth annual Energy Transition Summit, we sought to answer that question by bringing together a distinguished group of industry leaders, innovators, investors, policy experts, and community leaders who are forging the new energy economy. Guided by the theme “Shaping Our Energy Future – The Path Forward,” we fostered wide-ranging panel discussions and fireside chats on how to bridge the growing gap between demand and capacity—for power as well as industrial advances—amid regulatory shifts, infrastructure bottlenecks, and capital constraints for mega projects.

Since its inception, our Summit has provided an essential forum for industry leaders to share ideas on the most pressing challenges and promising opportunities, from capital formation and regulatory evolution to technological commercialization. This year's Summit, which coincided with the 20^th anniversary of the Mintz Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice, took place during a critical period in the energy transition marked by a surge in demand driven primarily by the digital infrastructure boom and geopolitics.

In remarks opening the Summit, Tom Burton, Chair of the Mintz Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice, framed the central challenge this way: How can we meet energy transition demand in a world where risk allocation is shifting away from the many (the US taxpayer) toward the few?

"The technology exists, the people exist, but will private capital be able to step up and receive the rewards for the additional risk that they're being asked to take on?" he noted.

After giving opening remarks, Tom moderated the keynote fireside chat with David Crane, CEO and Chairman of Generate Capital. As the leader of a premier sustainable infrastructure investment firm, David offered insights into the technologies and economics shaping the energy transition. He also shared thoughts on the looming US electricity shortage, advice on investing in the sector, and lessons learned from his time at the Department of Energy (DOE), where he recently served as the Undersecretary of Infrastructure.

• The first panel, moderated by Sahir Surmeli, Co-chair of the Mintz Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice, covered the private equity investment landscape. Mark Lewis, Managing Director at Lime Rock New Energy, Francis O'Sullivan, Managing Director at S2G Investments, and Katie Wu, Director of Global Impact at KKR, shared where they see growth opportunities, how valuations are shifting, and areas ripe for consolidation.
• The second panel turned to the critical challenge posed by the unprecedented surge in demand driven by data centers, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing. The panel, moderated by Ayaz Shaikh, Chair of the Projects & Infrastructure team in the Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice at Mintz, convened experts from finance and technology to dissect this challenge: Jonathan Kim, Managing Director and Head of Power & Infrastructure at Mizuho, Claus Hertel, Managing Director and Head of Energy/Core Infrastructure at Rabobank, and Juan Macias, CEO of AlphaStruxure. The group discussed new financing approaches needed to meet the unprecedented demand, the obstacles to growth, and the challenges hyperscalers face in balancing reliability with sustainability goals.
• This detailed look at efforts to meet growing demand provided a natural segue to the final panel’s focus on bringing the next wave of energy innovations to market. Moderated by Paul Dickerson, Member in the Mintz Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice, the panel offered a 360-degree view of the commercialization journey—from inception to global scale—featuring Jeff Hyman, General Counsel of Antora Energy, Sachin Desai, General Counsel and VP of Policy at Pacific Fusion, and Stephen Trauber, Managing Director and Chairman and Global Head of Energy and Clean Technology at Moelis. Themes covered include how new technologies, such as LNG, nuclear, fusion, and thermal storage, can achieve scale in the current policy and investment environment.

In addition to the panels, we also hosted fireside chats throughout the day covering three crucial areas.

• Regulation: Steven Shparber, Member and head of the Energy Regulatory team in Mintz’s Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice, spoke with Allison Clements, Principal of 804 Advisory, who served on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2020 to 2024. Their discussion addressed the massive load growth and the efforts needed to rapidly modernize the US power grid. More specifically, they covered the roles that utilities, renewable energy providers, and regulation must play in that overhaul.
• Offshore wind development: Meade Harris, Co-founder and CEO of Dynamo Energy Hub, and Gabriel Davies, Vice President & Managing Director of the Northeast Program at Ørsted, examined the significant opportunities and persistent development challenges—from supply chain logistics to permitting—in the Northeast.
• Tax Strategies: John Lushetsky, Senior Vice President of ML Strategies, and Gregg Benson, Tax and Projects & Infrastructure Member in Mintz’s Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Practice, moderated a discussion on tax strategies with Charles Lord, Managing Principal and Co-founder of Renew Energy Partners, and Steven Lichtin, Managing Director at Advantage Capital and CEO of Advantage Renewables. Their discussion focused on tactical guidance for leveraging complex incentives, such as those referenced in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to unlock value, de-risk investments, and attract capital. Among other topics covered were prohibited foreign entity rules, which restrict the eligibility of certain clean energy tax credits and are set to go into effect next year.

The Summit once again underscored the interconnectedness of capital, policy, and technology in driving the energy transition forward. It also showed that while the transition presents many challenges, it also presents many opportunities. In remarks closing out the Summit, Stephen Trauber at Moelis synthesized the key themes, providing a final, authoritative perspective on the financial commitments and strategic imperatives required to act on the day’s insights.

Mintz extends a heartfelt thanks to all of our speakers, panelists, Mintz affiliates, and attendees for their contributions to this important effort. We are grateful for their time and for the extraordinary depth and breadth of their expertise. They reminded us that the energy transition is fundamental to our economic future and that progress is made when leaders in innovation, capital, and policy work together.

Learn more about the event here.

Subscribe To Viewpoints