DTECH 2027

The program covers power-generation operations, grid reliability and security, project development, and changing electricity demand. Keynote sessions address supply, demand and the next build cycle; securing the grid amid AI-related threats; and reliability, readiness and the performance gap. Technical sessions include gas-turbine fleet performance and upgrade potential; advanced reactors and TRISO fuel; carbon-capture integration; battery storage and capacity-market accreditation; data-center power demand and flexibility; long-duration storage; nuclear digital modernization; renewable integration; and power-project delivery. Additional program areas include CHP, cybersecurity, grid planning, emissions, and operations and asset reliability.

The conference focuses on the customer-utility interface, including planning, demand management, distributed energy resources, storage, DERMS, energy efficiency, interconnection, standardization, scalability, AI, data center growth, and next-generation loads. The program includes tutorials, technical tours, welcome and opening remarks with a keynote, breakout sessions, exhibits, stage presentations, startup lightning pitches, a poster session, and a closing session. Super Sessions address generation mix and grid reliability; data center growth and the AI economy; flexible load management; AI for planning, operations, and reliability; and asset management for an affordable grid. The program also includes an invite-only Innovation Challenge and brings together utility engineers, planners, consultants, developers working on large-load interconnections, AI and data-center leaders, DER providers, policymakers, regulators, and researchers in data, cybersecurity, and grid-edge systems. PacifiCorp is the host utility.

Sessions cover Environmental, Generation & Fuels; Grid Modernization; Transmission & Distribution; and Reliability & Resilience. Conference attendees can also attend sessions in the concurrent Safety Summit. The conference focuses on practices for building and maintaining safe, reliable electric systems, and includes the Public Power NextTech Expo. The 2027 agenda has not been published.

The program focuses on transmission and power markets, bringing together finance, technology, and utility leaders. Sessions include: • “1920s Vision: Is Grid Planning Ready for the Future?” — transmission planning reforms under Order No. 1920, expansion efforts, implementation results, and where transmission is being built. • “Capacity Markets: Diagnosing a Chronic Condition” — whether current energy and capacity-market constructs can be rehabilitated or require an overhaul. • “Power Struggle: Paying for the Grid of the Future” — funding interregional transmission, grid grants, price-collared compensation structures, the Transmission Facilitation Program, a proposed transmission investment tax credit, and transmission’s capacity value. • “Gridmaxxing: ATTs and the Art of Doing More With What You've Got” — deployment of advanced transmission technologies, implementation barriers, line-loss savings, and resilience benefits. • “Cost Allocation: An Immovable Object Meets an Unstoppable Force” — cost allocation for large loads, jurisdictional disputes, co-location and proximate resources, broader grid expansion, curtailable large load, clean energy, and storage. Named speakers include Laura Rauch of MISO; Aftab Khan of PJM; Suzanne Glatz of Glatz Energy Consulting LLC; Katie Siegner of RMI; David Lapp of the Maryland Office of Peoples Council; Evelyn Robinson of MAREC; Jennie Chen of RAP; Joshua Macey of Yale Law School; Madeline Gould Laughlin of Grid United; Brooke Keene of Southwest Power Pool; Zach Zimmerman of Grid Strategies LLC; Theodore Paradise of CTC Global; Georg Rute of Gridraven; Carla Pinzon of Expand Power Technologies, Inc.; Bryn Baker of CEBA; Jeff Bladen of Verrus; Matt Christiansen of Wilson Sonsini; Morgan Sipple of the Data Center Coalition; and Craig Sundstrom of Amazon Web Services.

TechAdvantage is a conference and expo for electric cooperative engineering, operations, information technology, purchasing and supply management professionals. Its stated focus includes grid resilience, cybersecurity, data, AI and emerging technologies, with content areas spanning engineering, broadband and supply chain. Program topic areas include advanced metering, distribution automation, distributed energy resource management systems, microgrids, resiliency, EV charging and electrification, GIS, grid visibility, communications and connectivity, IT operations and cloud infrastructure. Other areas include cybersecurity, risk and regulatory compliance; data, AI and analytics; procurement, supply-chain resilience, logistics, inventory and materials management; broadband deployment, fiber and wireless technologies; disaster recovery, storm response and business continuity; and workforce strategies and load growth. The expo features technologies and solutions for electric cooperatives.

An intensive workshop on projected electricity demand and expanding the supply of natural resources used to generate power. Topics include natural gas, geothermal development and repurposing oil and gas assets; hydrogen, uranium, lithium and critical minerals; and water, environmental, storage, site-selection and regulatory considerations. Program discussions cover grid shortfalls and raw materials for electricity generation, solutions for increasing electricity supply, geothermal, and technology including ORC, sensors and small nuclear reactors. Other sessions address AI prompts for grid and behind-the-meter planning; lithium direct lithium extraction (DLE) and hydrogen technologies; regulatory and legislative factors affecting geothermal, critical minerals, low-carbon energy, grids and data centers; and mining and oil-and-gas intersections, including near-surface imaging and copper for electricity transmission. The program also includes an AI prompt clinic focused on water, the environment, science and regulations.

The program spans project execution, nuclear energy, and grids, AI, and infrastructure. Sessions address financing and delivering the U.S. energy buildout; grid capacity, interconnection, transmission, reliability, and cost allocation; and the effects of data-center and industrial demand on power planning. Nuclear topics include power for data centers, first-of-a-kind project cost and delivery, nuclear finance, HALEU and fuel supply, utility choices among large reactors, SMRs, and microreactors, and pathways to SMR deployment. Other sessions cover LNG security, trade, and investment; energy storage and grid-edge technologies; AI in energy operations; and project bankability, permitting, policy, supply-chain, and delivery risks. The program also includes executive roundtables, a project-execution clinic, and an energy startup pitch competition.

Produced by IEEE PES and hosted by Georgia Power, the exposition includes a Data Center Stage track exploring how the rise of hyperscale and edge data centers is influencing grid planning, energy infrastructure and sustainable load management. The conference brings together the transmission and distribution ecosystem, including utilities, regulators, researchers and technology providers, with many manufacturers timing new product launches to coincide with the event.

Public power utility leaders meet with experts in technology, energy, and policy. Attendance is limited to facilitate productive dialogue. Sessions address shifts in the global energy landscape, including the energy transition, energy security, geopolitical and economic competition, and investment in energy infrastructure, renewable technologies, nuclear power, and fossil fuels. Other discussions examine reliability and affordability amid growing demand, rising costs, regulatory pressures, and customer expectations; resource adequacy, infrastructure investment, workforce challenges, supply-chain constraints, and emerging technologies; and leadership through outages, cyber incidents, severe weather, safety emergencies, and public scrutiny. The program also explores AI and other emerging technologies, including their utility applications and questions around governance, cybersecurity, workforce impacts, and risk management. Additional topics include evaluating and integrating significant new loads, generation and infrastructure investments, contracts and rate protections, aligning economic development with the public power mission, and workforce development, succession planning, leadership training, and knowledge transfer.