2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas’ load queue and China electrifies

It’s a new year, which means the veteran energy analyst Nat Bullard has dropped another annual, data-rich presentation on the state of energy and decarbonization. And per what has become tradition, Nat is back on Catalyst – for the fourth time – to discuss some of Shayle’s favorite slides, cherry-picked from the 200-page deck. In part one of their two-part conversation, they cover topics like: The significance of China’s rapid electrification Why the proportion of GDP spent on electricity has remained flat while oil has proven volatile The massive backlog and rising capital costs for gas turbines How current tech CapEx compares to past large-scale endeavors like the Manhattan Project and broadband build-out The extraordinary explosion of large load interconnection requests in Texas The divergence in load forecasting between grid operators and transmission providers Global drivers of electricity demand growth beyond data centers Resources Nat Bullard's 2026 presentation deck Catalyst: 2025 trends: aerosols, oil demand, and carbon removal Catalyst: 2024 trends: batteries, transferable tax credits, and the cost of capital Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com. Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.