Key takeaways from the 2nd annual CIBC Electrification Summit

Tom Heintzman: Welcome to The Sustainability Agenda, a podcast series focusing on the evolving complexities of the sustainability landscape. I’m your host, Tom Heintzman. Please join me as we explore today’s most pressing issues with special guests that will give you some new perspectives and help you make sense of what really matters.

Gayatri Desai: And I think the one thing that I would say around the key takeaways probably are that, it’s clear from the broader discussion that was had at the summit, but also on our panel, that ultimately and quite simply, we need more power, we need cheap power, we need reliable power and we need clean power.

Tom Heintzman: Welcome to our multi-part series on the role of electrification in the transition to clean energy. Over the past several episodes, we explored different aspects of the electricity system value chain, which included issues at the heart of electricity distribution, AI-driven approaches to grid management, advances to battery storage systems, and a global scan of the status of electrification in a number of industry verticals. On today’s episode, we continue the discussion with our key takeaways and observations from CIBC’s Second Annual Electrification Summit, which took place in Toronto on April 23rd, 2025. The event explored the progress and trajectory of electrification in Europe and North America and the opportunities enabling our electrified future. This year, the event was attended by roughly 350 people representing developers, generators, utilities, heavy consumers, some of the largest investors and lenders in the space, as well as government and regulators. To provide further insights from the event, I’m joined by my CIBC colleague, Gayatri Desai. Gayatri, or Guy as she’s fondly known, is Managing Director and Head of Energy Transition and Natural Resources in our Corporate Banking Europe business. She has extensive expertise in helping clients finance their transition objectives and has been the guiding force behind a number of financing deals in the energy transition space in Europe. Guy is based in our London, UK office and came to Toronto to moderate a panel at our summit on global trends in electrification in the UK, Europe, and the US. Good morning, Guy. Welcome and thanks for joining the show.

Gayatri Desai: Good morning, Tom. It’s my absolute pleasure to be here with you again to discuss the Electrification Summit.

Tom Heintzman: Guy, you were gracious enough to travel over from London for the summit with representatives of two of your clients. Your panel covered European and US trends in electrification. Other topics covered during the day included transmission, nuclear and gas generation, which have both seen a recent uptick in interest, challenges in financing novel projects, as well as some of the demand drivers, including data centers and electrifying the resource industry. Guy, over the entire day, what were your overall impressions of the event? What resonated with you? What stood out with you the most?

Gayatri Desai: Yeah, thanks, Tom. I think, first of all, it was an extraordinary event. It was my first time attending in person. As you’ve said, we had about 350 people attending from a broad spectrum of stakeholders interested in electrification. The follow ups and connections that were made on the day were tremendous. So I think the first observation and key one would be that the engagement in the room, the enthusiasm and the momentum behind engaging in electrification more broadly was very, very pronounced and tangible. I think the second thing that resonated very, very clearly was the effective description at the beginning in the keynote around the demand drivers for electrification, the mega trends underpinning the huge growth in demand that’s foreseen over the to the end of this decade and beyond in power requirement driven by population growth, urbanization, digitalization, as well as decarbonization. And what this really means for the supply side of the equation, and in particular the growth in the clean energy space where globally renewable energy is expected to increase by 11,000 gigawatts by 2030, tripling effectively according to the IEA. That leads to a third observation, which is around the need to transform and reinforce the grid and the systems transformations that are required in order to embrace and to successfully implement electrification across the economy. We’ve seen that most acutely in recent days with the Spanish blackout scenario or the Iberian blackout scenario that happened on the 28th of April of this year, shortly after our summit, where 15 gigawatts were lost from the Iberian system in a matter of minutes, as a result of a number of factors which are still being properly identified, but largely which relate to an inability to manage the supply demand imbalances in grid in real time, given the larger number of share of renewables operating on the system at that time and the loss of interconnection capacity to the broader EU network. So I think grid and system transformation was another key theme alongside market design, which I’ll come back to. And then finally, the overriding impression across gas, nuclear, demand drivers, such as digitalization and the supply demand discussions which took place is really the investment required to drive all of this. How much is required and to give a few figures, three to four trillion euros in the EU over the next 10 years to drive their agendas. Clean Power 2030 in the UK requires 40 billion sterling per year by 2030 on average. The opportunity that this amount or sheer scale of investment then presents or presented to our stakeholders in the room, developers, lenders, investors, etc. And I think it bodes very well for future engagement in all of these areas for our client base. So Tom, then over to you. This was the Second Annual Electrification Summit and the event is quite unique and it reaches across the traditional industry silos to bring together the participants along the electrification value chain. Why was it important for CIBC to host this event again this year? And what progress or changes in electrification trends have you noticed in the past year since the summit last took place?

Tom Heintzman: The first reason why we thought it was important to put it on in the first place and to continue the summit this year is as you’ve pointed out electrification is one of the major changes of our time. The conference was full of examples evidencing that electricity is by far the fastest growing form of final energy demand in our economy. Electrification is a meta trend that will continue for decades, and as you’ve pointed out, require trillions to address. So it’s substantial enough to warrant the focus of a conference. Just to give you one local example, you’ve given European and global examples of the quantums required, but I’m recording this here in Toronto. And last year, 2024, Toronto Hydro applied for its new rate hearing. About a decade ago, Toronto Hydro would have spent between 50 million and 100 million a year in CapEx. And the new rate hearing will allow Toronto Hydro to spend up to 800 million a year in CapEx. It’s an enormous growth, all of which is required in order to meet the electrification needs of the city. Now, admittedly, it’s a growing city, but even with a constant population, the investment required would be still substantial. Electrification is interesting because it is a transformation that cuts across the economy. The most obvious effect is energy, but it also affects transportation. Think EVs, electric fleets, trains and public transportation and autonomous driving. It affects real estate and housing as heat pumps, which because they move heat rather than create heat, are several times more efficient than combusting fuels for heating. It affects metals and mining because not only will we require more critical minerals to support electrification, but also mining itself will become more electrified and mining operations can support the development of transmission that allows us to electrify remote communities. And of course, electrification is critical to the digital economy. We’ve seen many demand forecasts swell as data centers and AI become more prevalent around the world. So electrification is not only a very large and important force in the economy, but it also cuts across so many of the industry verticals in a country and in a bank, allowing industries that might not normally attend the same conference to come together. So Guy, speaking of insights, coming back to your panel, you moderated a panel on global trends and electrification in the UK, Europe and US. Can you summarize for our listeners who was on your panel and some of your key observations from that discussion and top takeaways?

Gayatri Desai: So we had Trevor Wills, who is the CEO of Pulse Clean Energy, a UK-based battery, owner and operator. Tim Boothman, who was the Global Director of EV Fleet at Zenobe Energy Limited, an integrated battery and electric fleet electrification company and Suresh Vasan, Managing Director of Galvanize Climate and formerly a Senior Advisor at the US Department for Energy in the Loan Programs Office. We had a great mix of guests on the panel and that resulted in a great discussion actually. I think my key observations Tom would probably center around the following. The first question that I posed or the first thematic that we addressed really related to the current macroeconomic and geopolitical situation and how the investment approach of each of these different stakeholders would have been impacted or not by what we’re seeing play out today in the global markets and across supply and value chains. And I think what was quite interesting was the steadfastness and resolution in each of the contributors’ perspectives on this particular thematic. I think the broad consensus was that on the battery side, battery investment is clearly needed in order to ensure effective integration of intermittent renewable power and therefore for broader decarbonization of power objectives. Crucially, batteries are also needed for real-time supply and balance of power within the grid and for frequency regulation as well. And therefore notwithstanding supply chain challenges as a result of, or even outside of tariff imposition or geopolitical tensions, notwithstanding potential cost increases that may be precipitated by some of the fiscal challenges that we face today, it was felt that investment in batteries across the time horizons that we’re talking about in order to achieve clean power globally was something that would continue to be supported. So there was a lot of resolution and conviction around that point. Similarly, in the transport and mobility space, Tim Boothman spoke very eloquently about the mandates for electric vehicles that exist within the EU, the UK, and in the broader global context. And whilst EV uptakers slow down potentially for affordability considerations, potentially for range anxiety and or absence of charge point infrastructure, the reality remains that most people, within at the moment a particular demographic, but increasingly all people, it will be the case that their next car will be an electric vehicle or a hybrid of some sort. And there was confidence in that trajectory, albeit some scope for discussion around the pace of change. So I think great conviction in the perspectives that they provided around the current environment for investment and their ongoing desire to continue to promote that investment. I think the other key thing that we landed on was the need for effective collaboration between stakeholders and in particular between investors and government and the role of government and policy in driving forward electrification and transformation. And I think Trevor made some excellent points around how the UK government has taken major steps forward in terms of creating Great British Energy, undertaking or implement articulating a policy Clean Power 2030, which gives people a real roadmap to decarbonization. And then the nationalization of the electricity system operator to effectively bring forward grid transformation and reform and market design and reform, to bring together flexible generation, renewable generation and the next generation of base load, whether that’s via strategic gas, nuclear or other forms of generation that were yet to properly scale up such as hydrogen. So I think all in all, the panel was confident around the trajectory for investment, the underlying fundamentals for it and the role of government and partners in driving forward the agenda. And I think the one thing that I would say around the key takeaways probably are that, it’s clear from the broader discussion that was had at the summit, but also on our panel, that ultimately and quite simply, we need more power, we need cheap power, we need reliable power and we need clean power. And so if we can address those things in some way, shape or form through the particular participation or role that we will play in electrification, then that will stand us in good stead. So good amount of confidence and I think some interesting insights, notwithstanding macro and geopolitical turbulence. So maybe I can come back to you, Tom, on something that you can perhaps address. A similar question, I suppose, and at a high level. What takeaways did you glean from the sessions? Did anything stand out to you or maybe even surprise you?

Tom Heintzman: Guy, two thoughts come to mind on this. The first is, even though we all knew that demand for electricity was growing and growing rapidly and require a lot of investment, again, and throughout the day, there were lots of speakers about electrified transportation and electrified industry and electrified heating, etc. And despite everything I knew, I was still amazed at how the volume and the size of the challenge struck me. One, and there many anecdotes that can maybe communicate that observation, but one is that last year at the same time, we had the first electrification conference and the IESO spoke and talked about the growth that was coming at the system. And it had just put out its 2024 planning outlook, which estimates demand going out to 2050. This year, the IESO is again on the stage, and that demand outlook has been revised upwards. Just in a year, the Ontario market operator is revising its growth projections upwards by increasing it by 25%. It’s hard to make it tangible. And we talk about trillions. It’s so hard to make it tangible, exactly what that means and how it’s going to affect us all. So just the enormity of the challenge made clear by these global trends and by these much more local data points. The second thing that struck me was the political context. Clearly, there have been substantial changes in the United States over the course of the last year, which have affected countries around the world, including Canada. And while that change is unsettling, it also has given governments, regulators and market participants the license to imagine dramatic steps and to coalesce around them in a way that might not have been historically possible even a year ago. These include bold new infrastructure projects like transmission, increasing connectivity between provinces, new build to access strategic resources, and a broad consensus about making the most of Canada’s natural advantages. So I would say that surprisingly in light of all of the upheaval that’s gone on over the last year, I felt a sense of galvanizing and coalescing and agreement about the opportunity ahead of us. So it does feel like we’re at a bit of a political turning point on this issue, which is necessary in order to address the scope of the challenge. So Guy, since you have an insider’s perspective and work with many clients looking to finance energy transition objectives, what changes, innovations, breakthroughs, do you think we’ll see over the next 12 months that we’ll be talking about at next year’s Electrification Summit?

Gayatri Desai: That’s a great segue, maybe just following on from some of the themes that you’ve just or key takeaways that you’ve just summarized. I see the end of 2025 into 26 really focused around three or four key breakthroughs or changes, if you like, that we might reflect on. The first is the ongoing maturity of the renewable space and its ability to work alongside and the synergy with the development of energy storage. Over the last two or three years, we’ve seen significant momentum in the energy storage space, principally in battery energy storage systems, four hours and under, providing frequency response, supply demand functionality and resilience into the grid and effectively allowing renewables to integrate within a broader energy mix. Now, currently globally, there is a huge deficit in battery energy storage capacity as against operational renewable capacity, most clearly in the UK, but also more broadly in Europe. And I think globally, where there is large or there are large pockets of renewable power, you see the same trends playing out. So I do feel that in Australia, in North America, in Europe, in the UK, we will see increased momentum towards co-located renewable assets and battery energy storage system assets, but also an increasing role for long duration energy storage and the ability therefore to bring other forms of flexible generation into the mix. So I think that’s going to be incredibly exciting as an opportunity over the next 12 months. And it really will be facilitated or has been facilitated by the fact that there is such growing momentum and understanding of the broader battery and energy storage space now when compared to two or three years ago. The second area of focus will really be around strategic gas and what that means globally. I think now, given the focus on energy affordability, energy system resilience and reliability, and autonomy and security, there really is a broad and consensus around the role of gas as a transition fuel on a go-forward basis. And we see strategic investment in gas, growing LNG supply chains, more LNG into Europe as being key factors over the course of the next 12, 18 months. And we’re already seeing broad investment into the LNG value chain, including regasification terminals in Europe. So I think that will be an ongoing trend which will gain momentum. We also hope to see far more hydrogen projects come forward or at least a few large scale hydrogen projects move forward to final investment decision in the next 12 to 18 months. Now these will center around areas with high renewable generations such as Iberia but also we’re making some great steps in the UK and the rest of Europe on the hydrogen value chain albeit perhaps at a slower pace than we originally envisaged. So I think on a sectorial basis, renewables and batteries, strategic gas, hydrogen, and as a complement to some of these things, carbon capture utilization and storage to drive forward, broader electrification will be important. As a second thematic, I would definitely see international collaboration and domestic collaboration, as you pointed out, being a key factor in driving forward confidence in investment against a perhaps more turbulent geopolitical and global backdrop. So I think we will see some unifying sort of trends coming through, where we see Friend shoring, cultural and value alliance between like minded nations or provinces or states. And we will therefore see more directed and focused investments in areas where countries can effectively look inward and at the same time look outwards in terms of their exports and their value creation and generation. And this is great because it will mean more jobs, more upskilling and perhaps an ability to generationally address entrenched social inequality that we have seen sort of pervade and persist for a number of years. So I think it does feel like a once in a lifetime opportunity really to redefine the paradigms that have grown up over the last 50, 60 years. And whilst the stimulators for those changes may not necessarily be the most salubrious, I think the outcomes could be indeed very positive for the growth of individual economies and globally for a system which is far more balanced than the one that we see today. So I think industrial international collaboration between nations, industrial partnerships, and collaboration will be key. And that will really mean new supply chains and new dependencies, which will have to be created as well as independencies to make sure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. And the final theme I would say that I’m looking forward to seeing, and we’re also seeing play out live today is acceleration and innovation in technology. So we’re already seeing, you know, what was a two hour battery become a four hour battery become a six to eight hour battery now become a 10 hour battery. We’re already seeing different technologies in the battery space more suited to different purposes and roles. And we’re seeing that innovation play through to the mobility space for electric vehicles and the ranges that now can be delivered via those vehicles as well as the speed of charge points and other effects. I think, you know, acceleration in technology in the molecular space, in the biofuel space is going to be truly exciting as well.

Tom Heintzman: Well, Guy, given the reception this year, I’m sure we’ll be doing a Third Annual Electrification Summit next year, given how well your panel went over, I hope you’ll come and join us again next year. And then we can compare and assess whether the trends that you’re forecasting have in fact played out or whether the world’s gone another direction as it often does. Anyway, it’s been wonderful having you on the show today. And thank you to the listeners for tuning in.

Gayatri Desai: Thank you very much, Tom. 

Tom Heintzman: Please join us next time as we tackle some of sustainability’s biggest questions, providing you different perspectives to help you move forward. I’m your host, Tom Heintzman, and this is The Sustainability Agenda.

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