Electrification Surge Fuels Case for Clean Energy ETF ACES

Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, a fractured energy security picture, and a wave of electrification are converging into a supercycle for clean energy infrastructure. That’s according to executives from SS&C ALPS Advisors and CIBC Private Wealth.Key Takeaways: Global clean energy investment hit a record $2.3 trillion in 2025, up 8% year over year. AI data centers could consume 10% of U.S. electricity by 2030, straining the power grid. ACES targets North American clean energy firms that draw over half their value from the sector. For two decades, U.S. electricity demand barely budged. That era is over, said Kyle Kleckner, senior investment analyst at SS&C ALPS Advisors, during a webinar hosted by Cinthia Murphy, director of research at VettaFi. Data centers now share the spotlight with electrified transport, heating, and reshored manufacturing. See more: Riding the Green Wave: Clean Energy ETFs Benefiting Clean energy stocks went through a rough stretch of higher rates, policy noise, and trade friction, yet capital kept flowing into the physical buildout regardless. Global energy transition investment reached $2.3 trillion in 2025, a record and an 8% increase from a year earlier, Kleckner said. Breaking that total down by sector, electrified transport pulled in close to $900 billion, renewable energy nearly $700 billion, and power grids just under $500 billion. According to Kleckner, that split is a sign that the buildout is real and not a short-term sentiment trade. Much of that grid spending traces back to a single source of demand: artificial intelligence (AI). Hyperscaler capital expenditure estimates jumped from roughly $300 billion a year in early 2025 toward $1 trillion annually today, said Jerimiah Booream, managing director and senior investment analyst at CIBC Private Wealth. Data centers are expected to consume roughly 10% of U.S. electricity by 2030 — a significant jump from their current low-to-mid single-digit market share. Solar, batteries, and wind make up the bulk of near-term capacity additions, Booream added. Renewable developers have been the most active participants in a multiyear grid interconnection queue.Electrification Reshapes Storage and Energy SecurityBattery storage is scaling up to stabilize a grid facing more variable generation and sharper demand swings, Booream noted. Natural gas equipment has grown scarce, pushing deployment costs up nearly threefold over the past three years. Electric vehicles’ share of global lithium demand has slipped from about 90% to somewhere between 70% and 80%, Booream said, as stationary grid storage claims a larger slice. That scramble for domestic battery and grid capacity is unfolding against a backdrop of renewed geopolitical risk. Conflict in the Middle East has also put the Strait of Hormuz back into the risk conversation, Kleckner added. Roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade and nearly one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas trade moved through the waterway in 2025. Energy security now means generating and storing power domestically, Kleckner said, rather than relying on imports. SS&C ALPS Advisors built the ALPS Clean Energy ETF (ACES B) around that shift, said Karl Zeller, senior investment specialist at the firm. The fund targets U.S. and Canadian companies across seven segments including solar, wind, storage, grid technology, and electric vehicles. Each company must draw more than half its value from clean energy and already generate commercial revenue, Booream said. That requirement rules out speculative, pre-revenue ventures. SOLV Energy (MWH), a recent IPO added to the index, illustrates that screen in practice. The company builds solar and battery storage systems and ranks as the second-largest provider of those services in the U.S. Its margins have expanded as project demand has climbed, Booream said. For more news, information, and analysis, visit the ETF Building Blocks Content Hub.