Bank of America says AI infrastructure financing remains robust as demand grows across data centers, power and compute.

Artificial intelligence is heating up the race to build data centers, and with BloombergNEF projecting 194 gigawatts of demand by 2035, the biggest challenge isn't computing power…. It's electricity. Faced with years-long grid connection delays, developers are turning to on-site gas generation to bring projects online faster, creating a rapidly expanding market for turbines, engines, fuel cells and battery storage. Choosing the right technology is a trade-off between speed, cost, efficiency and emissions. And while on-site generation is often seen as a temporary bridge, developers are also weighing what role those assets could play once permanent grid connections become available.

BloombergNEF published its new US data center capacity forecast on July 21, 2026, packed full of new analysis and insights about developers, timelines, regional market dynamics and on-site power considerations. Here are our key takeaways.

Prices of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, are rising as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global fuel markets. Higher oil-product prices are increasing demand for biofuels, particularly for road transport, as governments seek to soften the impact of elevated fuel costs. Prices in Northwest Europe, the largest SAF consumption hub, are set to remain elevated over the next year according to BloombergNEF analysis, averaging $2,746 per metric ton.

Solar is set to oust coal as the leading generator of electricity within six years, BloombergNEF finds in its latest energy transition outlook, despite a first ever slight dip in installations in 2026. “Solar is the cheapest source of power in many countries, and is proving the easiest and fastest to deploy,” said Jenny Chase, BNEF’s clean power specialist. “Its role in the global energy mix will be substantial, ushering in a new age where power is cheap whenever the sun shines.”

The global economy has reached the “messy middle” of the energy transition where renewable energy and electric vehicles are prevalent enough to affect the demand for fossil fuels without entirely displacing them. This introduces new tensions and volatilities to established industries from energy to transport and countries from Canada to Indonesia.

Global clean power purchase agreement (PPA) volumes fell for the first time last year in nearly a decade, as power prices and policy risks redefined market activity.

The US energy landscape is changing quickly. Demand for artificial intelligence is driving up power demand while electric vehicle (EV) adoption slows down and enters a more complex phase. Together, these trends are reshaping how utilities, policymakers, financiers and automakers respond to emerging challenges in the energy sector.

The Electric Vehicle Outlook is our annual long-term publication looking at how electrification, shared mobility, autonomous driving and other factors will impact road transport in the coming decades.

BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) annual Electric Vehicle Outlook (EVO) expects over a quarter (27%) of cars sold globally in 2026 to be electric – up from 9% five years ago – and over half (52%) of all passenger vehicles to be electric by 2035.

The AI boom is ushering in a new era for energy storage. As data center buildout accelerates, batteries are evolving from short-duration backup tools into larger, more flexible systems that can help bring facilities online faster and manage complex power needs. In the US in particular, a growing pipeline of projects is emerging, with batteries increasingly paired with on-site generation or used to smooth demand and unlock faster connections to the grid. So how are data centers changing the energy storage market, and what role could these systems play in the power grid of the future? On today’s show, Tom Rowlands-Rees is joined by, Caitilín McManus, a technology and innovation associate at BloombergNEF, to discuss her recently released note “Data Centers’ Energy Storage Ramp Up: Project List Grows.”

Mexico is entering a pivotal moment for its energy system and economy more broadly. Power-sector reforms, shifting oil and gas trade flows, US-Mexico-Canada Agreement negotiations and industrial competitiveness are converging to reshape the country’s investment landscape.

An oil price rally has been evasive even though the Strait of Hormuz is largely closed and inventories are falling sharply. The oil market is dealing with a temporary supply disruption on top of a structurally bearish backdrop. BloombergNEF’s oil price modeling reflects the possibility that Brent futures have already peaked just above $104 per barrel, or are close to peaking, when measured on a monthly average basis. Once the shock effect starts to fade, attention is likely to shift back to slowing demand growth and rising supply.

The AI boom is ushering in a new era for energy storage. As data center buildout accelerates, batteries are evolving from short-duration backup tools into larger, more flexible systems that can help bring facilities online faster and manage complex power needs. In the US in particular, a growing pipeline of projects is emerging, with batteries increasingly paired with on-site generation or used to smooth demand and unlock faster connections to the grid. So how are data centers changing the energy storage market, and what role could these systems play in the power grid of the future? On today’s show, Tom Rowlands-Rees is joined by, Caitilín McManus, a technology and innovation associate at BloombergNEF, to discuss her recently released note “Data Centers’ Energy Storage Ramp Up: Project List Grows.”

In September 2022, six months after Russia invaded Ukraine and with oil and gas prices around the world soaring, I wrote a piece entitled After Ukraine - the Great Clean Energy Acceleration, predicting that “Things are going to start moving extremely fast. The Great Energy Price Spike is going to give way to the Great Clean Energy Acceleration.” That turned out to be one of my better predictions – over the four years since the invasion, installations of wind and solar power, sales of EVs and investment in clean energy have all more or less doubled.  Even within the U.S., despite the Trump administration’s efforts, strong growth in clean energy has continued.

Global wind capacity additions hit an all-time high in 2025, marking a third straight year of record installations, according to BloombergNEF's annual Global Wind Turbine Market Shares 2025,

The New Energy Outlook presents BloombergNEF’s long-term energy and climate scenarios for the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Global wind capacity additions hit an all-time high in 2025, marking a third straight year of record installations, according to BloombergNEF's annual Global Wind Turbine Market Shares 2025,

Financial institutions have taken different approaches toward disclosing climate transition plans. The world’s largest banks and investment managers remain active in defining complete transition plans and even updating them – while complete disclosure among smaller institutions is lagging.

Energy storage is having its moment. Global deployment has set new records every year since 2014 and exceeded 100 gigawatts of annual additions for the first time in 2025. BloombergNEF expects the market to continue growing, although the ongoing conflict in the Middle East could have varied implications for the industry. The chemistries used in stationary storage are also set to evolve this decade, as more non-lithium batteries gain share.