For the first time in three decades outside of a crisis period, electricity demand has begun to grow faster than the global economy itself. For power generation specifically, Verdantix identifies four factors that carry disproportionate weight: politics, geo-economic friction, energy prices, and production inputs. The IEA’s World Energy Employment 2025 report found that across advanced economies, the energy sector as a whole has roughly 2.4 workers nearing retirement for every worker under 25. The Center for Energy Workforce Development’s 2023 survey of U.S. utilities found that 56% of the workforce has fewer than 10 years of service—a figure that climbs above 60% for engineers and line workers. Everything required to meet it—the people, the equipment, the political and economic conditions—is where the uncertainty now lives.