Still, federal policy matters.

Despite the president’s executive orders, much of his energy blueprint remains a work in progress. That includes a position on tax credits for wind and solar, how energy fits into a federal infrastructure plan and how, if at all, the administration plans to keep uneconomical coal plants open.

So investors will listen closely as Perry -- who oversaw record expansions of wind power as Texas governor -- steps to the microphone at this week’s conference.

“There are a lot of blanks to be filled in,” Ethan Zindler, an analyst with New Energy Finance in Washington, said in an interview.

Paris Question

Perhaps no issue engenders more debate within the Trump administration than the Paris accord. The president famously vowed to “cancel” the landmark agreement during the campaign. Afterward, he said he’d keep an open mind about it.

Two key events next month are likely to force him to make a decision. Leaders from the Group of Seven nations meet for an economic summit in Italy on May 26 and have indicated they will push Trump to sign off on a joint statement supporting efforts to fight climate change. And envoys hashing out details of the Paris accord will gather in Germany for two weeks of discussions concluding May 18.

Meanwhile, Trump’s advisers have staked out their positions. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and chief strategist Stephen Bannon are among those pushing to scrap the Paris deal, brokered in 2015 by almost 200 nations. Opposite them stand Trump’s daughter, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and others.

Pressure is coming from outside the White House on both sides of the debate. Coal baron Robert E. Murray has pushed Trump to scrap the deal. Other energy companies have endorsed the accord, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc.

“Domestic energy companies are better positioned to compete globally if the United States remains a party to the Paris agreement,” Cheniere Chief Commercial Officer Anatol Feygin wrote in an April 17 letter to G. David Banks, a White House energy adviser.