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A leading clean energy investor has warned skyrocketing power rates could jeopardise investment in the sector, as he urged US Congress to pursue permitting reform to avoid an affordability crisis.
David Crane, who runs Generate Capital, an investment firm with $9bn assets under management, told the Financial Times that the artificial intelligence boom is driving an electricity crunch that has pushed up utility bills and threatens clean energy investment projects.
“Affordability is a huge issue,” he said. “Wherever you invest, if the value chain is predicated on customers getting electricity at a price they can’t afford, it collapses.”
Crane said that if electricity is sold for prices people cannot afford, defaults and regulatory backlash could cascade through the system.
“History tells us one of two things happen — either the customer just stops paying you, or they lobby the government and regulator,” he said. “Both are bad for the electricity producer.”
Electricity demand is rising for the first time in decades as data centre operators hunt for vast amounts of round-the-clock power, households switch to electric cars and heating systems, and manufacturing operations reshore to the US.
US electricity demand is expected to grow 25 per cent by 2030, compared to 2023 levels, while electricity rates for residential customers could increase 15 per cent to 40 per cent by 2030, according to ICF, a consultancy.
Crane said his firm has sought to capitalise on the rapid growth of data centres and set the company apart from rivals by backing projects that expand affordable power supply. Generate Capital has invested in community solar projects, battery storage developers and green hydrogen.
“Multitrillion-dollar AI companies are not the ones that are going to feel the pain of higher electricity rates in the way that the person down the street is,” he said. “My concern is more for the retail customer than for the hyperscaler,” referring to huge data centre operators.
He warned these projects could only come to fruition with permitting reform.
The House of Representatives’ Problem Solvers Caucus on Monday released a framework that would make it easier to build transmission lines, pipelines and power generation projects. The group intends for it to be the basis for a law passed by the end of the year.
Clean energy investors are facing an uncertain outlook in the US. Since Donald Trump assumed office in January he has slashed Joe Biden-era clean energy tax credits, loans and grants. His administration has also tried to halt approval for clean energy projects including Ørsted’s Revolution Wind and Equinor’s Empire Wind.
According to BloombergNEF, US renewable energy investment fell 36 per cent in the first half of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
In order to fill the gap left by the gutting of loans and grants, Crane called on capital markets to be more “creative” in how they structure investments, including offering debt to earlier-stage projects.
Generate Capital recently offered a $200mn loan to build a renewable-powered steel mill in California, and entered a $100mn renewable energy partnership with data centre operator Soluna.
“Traditionally debt followed equity, we’re now seeing structured debt to do things that are cutting edge,” he said.
However, Crane stressed the fundamentals of US energy demand and the cost of renewables is cause for investor “optimism”, and that the market has “dethawed” since the passing of Trump’s tax and spending bill.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there’s reason for optimism,” he said.
