RWE Clean Energy CEO says renewables keep overall costs down
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HOUSTON — Andrew Flanagan, CEO of RWE Clean Energy, warns that taking renewables out of the equation would boost gas demand enough to raise prices for consumers and data centers.
Why it matters: His message shows how a big onshore U.S. renewables player is navigating a White House that's hostile to wind and a Congress weighing the fate of clean power tax credits in budget talks.
Driving the news: Flanagan, on the sidelines of CERAWeek, said he's pro-gas but that renewables help keep overall costs down.
- "We expect and we know that we need more gas-fired generation to get completed. We're fully supportive of an all-of-the-above approach," said Flanagan, whose company is a subsidiary of German energy giant RWE and features solar, onshore wind, and battery storage assets.
- "But if you pull out the renewables piece of that, which is one of the lowest-cost solutions, you're going to increase the costs to consumers, and that's going to have a negative effect," adds Flanagan.
The big picture: President Trump is directly targeting marine wind, and RWE's separate U.S. offshore arm is already affected.
- Onshore, the threat is more complicated. Trump's anti-wind exec order also freezes federal onshore permitting, but RWE's work (and most of the industry's) is on private tracts.
- Still, private lands projects can need federal approval, such as permits from the FAA for tall structures. Tariffs, meanwhile, threaten to raise project costs.
State of play: Flanagan said the company took proactive steps to secure supply chains ahead of tariffs to avoid "untenable exposure" across the value chain.
- It already has permits needed for the roughly gigawatt of wind that's currently being built.
- "We don't see any material risk to our projects that are under construction," he said.
- The company also has over two gigawatts of solar and roughly .75 GW of storage under construction.
Yes, but: The effect on their longer term wind pipeline is less clear, he said, noting the "uncertainty that exists in the market."
- RWE will probably do less wind than initially planned in 2026 as they see how things shake out.
Inside the room: RWE is making sure Capitol Hill Republicans know about the jobs and investment that renewables bring.
- "We bought a billion dollars worth of equipment last year [that was] manufactured here in the U.S.," he said, adding they're working with partners to re-shore even more manufacturing capacity.
What's next: The domestic landscape has obviously gotten tougher. But Flanagan expressed optimism about the firm's 40-gigawatt wind, solar and storage pipeline.
- "The demand for electricity is significant, and we know we can be that solution now, and we can be a very cost-effective solution," he said.
