David Haug, CEO, Bildmore Clean Energy

Invest: spoke with David Haug, CEO of Bildmore Clean Energy, about the forces reshaping the energy sector, from tariffs and data center demand to the policy shifts affecting renewables. “Since early 2025, we’ve probably seen more volatility in energy, more uncertainty in energy, more unpredictability for the future than we’ve had for a long, long time,” Haug said.

What changes over the past year have had the biggest impact on the energy market and on your business?

There have been several major developments. One was the introduction of tariffs, which affected project costs and supply chains across industries. In energy, many developers thought they had already lined up their costs, supply, and offtake arrangements, only to find that equipment was no longer available or had become more expensive. In some cases, that meant projects had to be reworked entirely.

Another major shift was the rapid rise of data centers as a driver of electricity demand. There had been some discussion about this in 2024, but in 2025, the industry came to a consensus that demand for power was going to increase dramatically. For a long time, there had been little growth in power demand beyond population growth, and renewables had been the main area of expansion. Suddenly, the conversation changed because hyperscalers and large technology companies started saying they needed 24/7 power, regardless of where it came from.

That changed the discussion around what kinds of power projects get built and where. In some cases, it also led to more interest in behind-the-meter generation, where companies supply power directly at their own sites instead of waiting for utility interconnection.

A third major issue is the disruption around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. That has implications not only for oil and gas, but also for broader supply chains. At the same time, higher fossil fuel prices can improve the economics of renewables by raising overall power prices. That could end up benefiting certain renewable projects, especially solar and storage.

There is also the policy environment in the United States. A lot of attention has gone to the big, beautiful bill and the idea that it is anti-renewable, but the impact is more mixed. It was neutral to positive for battery storage, did not hurt short-term solar, and mainly affected longer-term solar tax credit prospects. Offshore wind has been hit much harder, while onshore wind still faces uncertainty but has not seen the same level of aggressive action.

How do you see the current environment affecting reliability and the broader conversation around energy security?

What happened in Spain reflects a fear that many people have had as renewable penetration increases. The grid used to be seen as stable and predictable, and now more power is coming from intermittent sources such as wind and solar. That raises concerns about whether the grid becomes harder to manage and whether the retirement of stable generation sources creates added risk.

In Europe, those concerns are especially visible. Spain, Germany, and Portugal have all had to deal with the challenge of integrating large amounts of renewable power. France is in a somewhat different position because it has so much nuclear generation. In Germany, there is already a growing recognition that shutting down nuclear capacity created vulnerabilities.

The issue is not only that wind and solar do not produce at all times, but also that a grid becomes more difficult to operate when generation is constantly moving up and down. Solar is more predictable, but wind can be more challenging. If you have too much intermittent generation without enough support around it, the system becomes more difficult to balance. I do not think we have seen the last of these kinds of disruptions.

What opportunities does this environment create for businesses like yours?

There are a lot of opportunities in the market overall. Data center growth is creating demand across a wide range of sectors, from construction and cooling to gas-fired generation, renewables, and transmission-related infrastructure. Anyone involved in producing or supporting energy development is seeing opportunities from that.

For our business specifically, the focus has been on how policy changes affect renewable and energy transition investments. We invest in projects such as solar, storage, wind, and renewable natural gas, and we help optimize their tax structures. The key question was whether the latest legislation would wipe out tax support for those technologies.

What actually happened is that projects that had already qualified for tax credits largely remained protected. Even for projects qualifying later, there are still time horizons under which developers can access similar benefits. That means there is still a large pipeline of projects that can be financed and built.

How is the financing environment shaping decisions, and what are investors focused on right now?

The investor market is diverse. Public market investors are dealing with volatility in equities, while private investors are looking at the long-term outlook for development projects. For private capital, the big issue is not only current conditions but also what the rules will look like years from now.

Politics has become a much bigger consideration in energy investing than many people would like. These are long-life assets, often with 15- or 20-year horizons, so investors want predictability. What they have seen in recent years is that administrations can use policy and executive action to favor one type of energy over another. That creates uncertainty, and uncertainty is something investors do not like.

Investors are comfortable with risk when the rules are clear. What they do not like is constant movement in the rules themselves, because then outcomes are driven less by judgment and execution and more by shifting policy.

What makes Texas stand out from an energy perspective, and what opportunities do you see there in the near future?

Texas continues to grow, and that growth has brought more businesses and more people to the state. It has created a business climate that is attractive to companies, including those relocating from states with higher costs and more burdensome regulations. Texas offers a lower cost of living, no corporate or personal income tax, and a legal and regulatory environment that many businesses find more predictable.

From an energy standpoint, Texas is also attractive because the market structure allows private participants to play a major role. Permitting tends to move faster here, and interconnection to the grid is generally much more predictable than in many other parts of the country. That matters enormously for project development. If a plant can be built quickly but then sits waiting years to connect to the grid, that hurts investment. Texas is better positioned than most states on that front.

All of that means Texas is one of the most favorable places in the country to build energy infrastructure, whether that is natural gas, solar, or battery storage. The state’s biggest challenge may simply be whether it can build enough power to keep up with demand, but it is probably in a better position than any other market to try.

What new technologies or trends are you watching most closely?

One of the biggest changes over the last two years has been the shift in attitudes toward nuclear power. A lot of former opposition has softened, especially as energy reliability and decarbonization have both become more urgent concerns. That has opened the door for many startups focused on small-scale nuclear technologies.

Historically, the major concerns around nuclear in the United States were cost control and safety. Small modular approaches aim to address both by making the plants more standardized and potentially easier to manufacture. The federal government is also moving more aggressively to support pilot projects. If those early plants operate successfully, nuclear could become a much more important part of the energy mix, especially for data centers and other large loads.

Carbon capture is another area worth watching, though it remains less certain. It would be easier to incorporate into projects at the front end, and in some cases, tax incentives may be enough to support it. Geothermal is also attracting attention. It is a clean resource and faces less opposition than some other technologies, but it still has technical and scaling challenges.

Battery technology is another key area. Today’s battery systems still depend heavily on lithium and other critical materials. If new chemistries can reduce reliance on those materials while lowering costs and improving duration, batteries could play a much larger role in making renewable generation more dispatchable. That would be an important breakthrough for the grid.

Looking ahead, how would you characterize the current moment for the energy industry?

Since early 2025, we’ve probably seen more volatility in energy, more uncertainty in energy, more unpredictability for the future than we’ve had for a long, long time.

At the same time, that volatility is creating new opportunities, forcing new decisions, and accelerating interest in technologies that might not have moved as quickly otherwise. It is a complicated moment, but it is also one of the most consequential periods the industry has seen in years.