In this episode of “The Energy Forum,” Ken Medlock sits down with Julie Cohn, a Center for Energy Studies (CES) nonresident scholar and research historian, and Miaomiao Rimmer, CES research manager, to explore how the Texas electric grid is adapting to compounding risks from storms, demand growth, and new technologies. They trace the evolution of ERCOT, unpack the dynamics of solar inverters and grid stability, and introduce a new CES dashboard that visualizes 75 years of disaster exposure alongside population growth and critical energy infrastructure.

Key topics include:

• Why the Texas grid is an island — and why it matters.
• Dealing with grid disturbances like those that surfaced in Odessa, Texas, in 2021 and on the Iberian Peninsula earlier this year.
• Reconciling planning assumptions and regulations with rising demand.
• The CES “Natural Disaster Resilience” dashboard and understanding the evolution of risk.

Explore the dashboard: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/ces-data-and-research-visualizations.

Featured:

• Julie Cohn, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/julie-cohn

• Miaomiao Rimmer, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/miaomiao-rimmer

• Ken Medlock, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/kenneth-b-medlock-iii

This conversation was recorded on June 18, 2025.

Follow Ken Medlock, Ph.D., on X (@Ken_Medlock) and LinkedIn.

You can follow @BakerInstitute and @CES_Baker_Inst on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

Conflict in the Middle East is shaking the global oil market. In this episode of “The Energy Forum,” Abhi Rajendran, a nonresident fellow at the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies and director of research and advisory at Energy Intelligence, speaks with Skip York, a Center for Energy Studies nonresident fellow and expert in global market dynamics and upstream strategy, about how escalating geopolitical risk has elevated concerns about global oil supply and is driving oil price volatility.

Together, they discuss this and more to facilitate a better understanding of a very dynamic market.

Topics include:

• What recent Israel-Iran escalations mean for global oil flows.
• How markets are pricing risk and uncertainty.
• OPEC+ policy moves and whether more barrels will materialize.
• Why U.S. shale supply may have plateaued.
• The evolving shape of China’s oil demand.
• What oil prices might look like in late 2025 and into 2026.

This conversation was recorded on June 16, 2025.

You can follow @BakerInstitute and @CES_Baker_Inst on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

This episode of “The Energy Forum” takes a deep dive into critical minerals and materials geoeconomics, a space where national security, industrial policy, and global competition intersect.

Featuring Michelle Michot Foss, Baker Institute fellow in energy, minerals, and materials; Gabriel Collins, the institute’s Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs; and Vinod Veedu, assistant vice president of Rice University’s Office of Research, the conversation builds on a new Baker Institute report exploring how past wars and strategic competitions can inform today’s mineral supply chain challenges.

Read the report here: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/critical-minerals-materials-geoeconomics-2025-report

This episode was recorded on April 1, 2025.