Solar & Microgrids Southeast

The program covers residential, commercial and industrial, and utility-scale solar and storage, with discussion of tax-credit deadlines, tariff and sourcing rules, permitting reform, interconnection, storage financing, and data-center-driven demand. The keynote “State of the Industry: A Candid Look at Where Solar and Storage Stand” examines policy volatility, tax credits, tariffs, and market consolidation. Another keynote features a live recording of the Energy Empire podcast about forces reshaping America’s clean energy buildout. “Designing Commercial-Scale PV: Three-Phase, the NEC, and Interconnection” addresses service configurations, conductor and overcurrent-protection sizing, and Article 705 interconnection. “The Mid-Market Interconnection Bottleneck” considers delays for mid-sized projects, utility perspectives, and possible reforms. “The New Rules for EPCs, Post-ITC” examines compressed schedules, supply constraints, milestone risks, and the post-safe-harbor landscape for utility-scale and C&I projects. Storage and grid topics include FEOC requirements, OEM and warranty structures, augmentation, and revenue assumptions in project financing; FERC Order 2222 and state virtual power plant mandates; and BESS fire-safety planning under UL 9540A and NFPA 855, including early engagement with authorities having jurisdiction. Other sessions address peak-demand revenue from capacity, ancillary services, demand response, and arbitrage; ERCOT load growth and large-load interconnection; and financing, interconnection, and construction for data-center power projects. Workshops cover commercial PV fundamentals and O&M practices including NFPA 70B, infrared thermography, and PV ground-fault troubleshooting. Roundtables address operational and business challenges involving supply chains, policy, financing, and market access. Conference passes cover sessions, roundtables, keynotes, and Braindate; workshops require separate purchase, while Exhibit Hall Only passes include access to keynotes.

Plenary and concurrent sessions examine renewable project markets and financing across solar, wind, storage, and clean firm power. Topics include tax-credit policy and compliance, tariffs, domestic-content requirements, power and PPA prices, data-center and other large-load demand, interconnection, procurement, construction, supply chains, and post-subsidy project economics. Financing sessions address tax equity, transferable credits, preferred equity, debt, development capital, lender underwriting, diligence, tax insurance, risk allocation, offtake structures, storage revenue models, sponsor equity, M&A, portfolio and asset valuation, and operating performance. The program also covers community solar and commercial and industrial projects, clean-firm and co-located generation, domestic manufacturing, and the effect of changing policy and market conditions on project execution and investment.

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.

The conference covers solar and storage alongside energy efficiency, beneficial electrification, and heat pumps, with a broader focus on decarbonization in the Mountain West. Programming is described as expert panels and thought-leadership sessions addressing policy, market trends, technology innovation, market development, emerging technologies, and business realities across the clean energy ecosystem.

Four plenary sessions and technical panels address solid-state transformer (SST) topologies and system architectures; power devices, including SiC, GaN, high-voltage IGBTs, and medium-voltage protection; high-frequency magnetics, packaging, and thermal management; fusion as a potential power source for data centers; SST control, protection, reliability, cybersecurity, and grid services; and grid-interactive data centers, energy storage, onsite generation, and flexible AI loads. The program also includes poster sessions and awards. Panel topics include grid interconnection, microgrids, demand response, renewable integration, battery and long-duration storage, workload flexibility, waste-heat recovery, and coordination between data centers and utilities. Plenary speakers include Dr. Patrick Chapman, Vice President of Enphase Energy and a National Academy of Engineering member, and Dr. Le Xie, Gordon McKay Professor at Harvard University.

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 focuses on clean-energy project performance, resource optimization, data tracking, and energy-assessment accuracy for solar, wind, and storage projects. Topics include solar design, module and system performance and degradation, modeling practices, soiling, capacity testing, and climate impacts; wind modeling, lidar and remote sensing, turbine and blade losses, equipment-failure prediction, IEC standards, FAA permitting, layout optimization, and repowering; and battery degradation, performance metrics, and pairing generation and storage with data-center loads. Additional topics include uncertainty modeling, AI applications, GIS and site planning, complex terrain and land cover, time-series data, co-located wind, solar, and battery storage modeling, climate impacts on energy assessments, renewable revenue and market outlooks, and storage revenue modeling. Proposal types include speaking and poster presentations, as well as sponsored software and tool review presentations or demos.

The forum examines North American power markets across renewables, conventional generation, utilities, data centers, commercial and industrial offtakers, and government. Topics include energy-policy consistency and consequential legislation; the effects of tariffs, tax-credit regulation, geopolitical conflict, interest rates, and industry consolidation on costs and demand; FERC interconnection reform and transmission investment; and whether domestic solar and storage manufacturing can compete under changing trade and incentive rules. The program also addresses data-center and AI-driven load growth, local opposition and project approvals, equipment and workforce constraints, powered land, gas paired with battery storage, battery operations and project economics, and mergers and acquisitions in power development. Other sessions examine hyperscaler nuclear strategies, clean firm and dispatchable power, long-duration storage, geothermal, small modular reactors, gas with CCS, aging renewable assets, behind-the-meter storage, large-load flexibility, and utility–data center collaboration. Roundtable topics include understanding FEOC and tariffs, overcoming local opposition, operations and maintenance, flexibility programs, EPC partnerships, and behind-the-meter projects.

The conference brings together key state policymakers, critical decision-makers, leading utility executives, financiers, and renewable energy players to explore the next steps to power the Southeast. It surveys North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, providing updates on regional energy opportunities and issues.