Photo by Niamh Coomey. Huntsman Corporation CEO Peter Huntsman was the keynote speaker at West Virginia Manufacturing Growth Summit at Oglebay on Tuesday, where he discussed the future of energy production.

WHEELING — The CEO of a global manufacturing company told an audience at Oglebay Park Resort that the current energy landscape is changing too fast to depend fully on solar, wind or nuclear in the next several years – but places like West Virginia can help lead the future of energy production.

Peter Huntsman, CEO of the Huntsman Corporation, gave the keynote speech Tuesday morning at the annual West Virginia Manufacturing Growth Summit, held this year at Oglebay’s Wilson Lodge. The conference is an opportunity each year for state and local leaders to discuss trends, challenges, goals and strategies for the future of energy and manufacturing.

Huntsman, a self-described “unapologetic champion” of his industry, oversees a company with more than 15,000 employees and contractors with annual revenues topping $6 billion. He said he believes it will take too long for the infrastructure for low-carbon energy sources, like nuclear, to be built out and provide power for advancements like artificial intelligence that are rapidly growing.

“This is not going to be powered by nuclear power, it is happening too fast,” Huntsman said.

Similarly, he argued that wind and solar cannot provide the consistency needed to maintain things like AI data centers. However countries that have consistent supplies of coal and natural gas will succeed in this area, Huntsman said.

“What goes into your homes can vary by a couple percentage points. What goes into a data center cannot vary by a tenth of a degree,” he said. “You have to have an exact, reliable and affordable form of electricity.”

In order to be fully reliant on nuclear power, there are years of legal hurdles, construction and permits that need to be overcome, meaning models for a future society built on a “green utopia” in the next decade are not realistic, Huntsman said.

“Whatever you say we’re going to be doing in 2030 or 2035, it has to be today, essentially under construction,” he said.

Huntsman noted that the future of energy production will likely fall on smaller, hard working states and countries that can adapt quickly.

“What’s amazing to me is when you travel around the world you look at these petrol states where the next generation of energy leadership is going to come from, it’s not going to be coming from continents anymore, it’s going to be coming from small, nimble, creative economic blocks,” Huntsman said.

An example of this he saw in his recent travels was two small countries in the Middle East, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, both leaders in natural gas.

“Those two countries will probably have as much to do with the future of European energy competitiveness as any country outside Europe,” he said.

With a population of over 1.7 million and vast natural resources, Huntsman argued that West Virginia can take on a similar leadership role in the future direction of energy production.

“The decisions that we are making here in West Virginia, the focus that you have, the small, nimble, fast moving population and virtually endless resources, I bet you the future generations hopefully will be able to rise up, look what you’ve done and thank you for your work and your foresighted vision,” he said.