The Event Defining How AI + Load Growth Shape Tomorrow’s Grid

Rapid load growth from hyperscale data centers, the expansion of AI computing, and the rise of onsite generation needs are driving the largest shift in electricity demand in decades. Utilities, data center operators, EPC firms, and technology providers are all being pushed into the same urgent conversation: how to deliver reliable, scalable power fast enough to support the digital economy.

DTECH® Data Centers & AI unites all sides of this challenge to coordinate strategies, share solutions, and accelerate capacity deployment.

High-density data center loads are reshaping utility planning, grid modeling, protection engineering, and operational decision-making. Utilities are adopting AI tools to improve forecasting, outage prediction, DER coordination, and asset health, while data centers are exploring interconnection pathways, substation requirements, and alternative power architectures.

DTECH® Data Centers & AI brings engineers and technical decision-makers together to address capacity constraints, streamline studies, modernize infrastructure, and integrate onsite generation into both utility and customer-side systems.

Who Attends DTECH Data Centers & AI?

Professionals attend DTECH® Data Centers & AI to evaluate the engineering, operational, and regulatory frameworks required to support rapid MW- to GW-scale load growth, deploy onsite generation, integrate new technologies, and apply AI to grid and facility operations. The event is designed for experts responsible for system planning, grid integration, electrical design, mission-critical infrastructure, and operational reliability.

Electric Utilities

Utility engineers, planners, and operators attend to understand the technical requirements associated with large new loads and the adoption of AI across the grid.
 


 

Data Centers & Critical Infrastructure Owners
Electrical engineering, design, and operations teams from hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise facilities attend to evaluate power-system design, interconnection pathways, onsite generation, and redundancy strategies.
 
Technology Providers
OEMs, software and analytics companies, consultants, and EPC contractors attend to meet buyers, demonstrate solutions, and understand emerging utility and data center requirements tied to siting, permitting, onsite power, AI, automation, and efficiency.
 

Meet the 2026 DTECH Data Centers & AI keynote speakers!

keynote

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Trending Topics

Data Center Load Growth & Grid Impacts
Data Center Load Growth & Grid Impacts
AI, cloud expansion, and edge compute deployments are creating the fastest electricity demand growth in decades. Sessions explore forecasting models, resource adequacy, interconnection queuing, substation planning, transformer constraints, and the evolving utility–data center partnership model.
AI Tools for Utility Operations
AI Tools for Utility Operations
Utilities are leveraging AI for outage prediction, vegetation management, DER forecasting, customer engagement, AMI analytics, grid-edge optimization, and asset-health monitoring. This stream examines applications that improve reliability, accelerate decision-making, and optimize capital deployment
Onsite Power & Backup Strategies
Onsite Power & Backup Strategies
With long interconnection queues and aggressive build timelines, data centers are increasingly turning to onsite power: gas turbines, CHP, SMRs, microgrids, energy storage, and hybrid backup systems. Sessions address permitting, emissions, commercial structures, and integration with utility systems.

News from DTECH®'s official media partner, Factor This

Utilities are on a spending frenzy to power the AI boom – This Week in Cleantech

On this episode of the This Week in Cleantech podcast, Jennifer Hiller of The Wall Street Journal, discusses U.S. utilities' plans to spend about $1.4 trillion over the next five years to upgrade the aging power grid and meet surging electricity demand driven largely by AI data centers.
April 17, 2026
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Data centers as dynamic grid assets? New Jersey site using solar and storage for flexibility

Calibrant Energy will own and operate a 23 MWh battery energy storage system at Iron Mountain's data center in Edison, New Jersey. When paired with a large on-site solar array, the campus becomes a flexible grid asset for PSE&G.
April 17, 2026
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The data center boom meets resistance in Maine as lawmakers pass a yearlong freeze

Maine's Legislature approved a bill for a statewide moratorium on large data centers, addressing community concerns about energy use and transparency.
April 16, 2026
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Can data center demand help modernize the grid?

Data center demand challenges are ones that utilities need to work through on every side, and those are the specifics that will be explored in detail at DTECH Data Centers & AI
April 10, 2026
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