Distributed Energy Award

Few moments have placed more pressure on the U.S. power sector than the one we’re in now—surging load growth, an evolving generation mix, mounting reliability concerns, rising costs, and a regulatory environment in flux. But those pressures look very different depending on where you sit on the grid.

In this session, executives from several of the industry’s most influential associations share what’s at the top of their members’ agendas, the challenges keeping their members up at night, and the work their organizations are doing to help meet those challenges head-on.

Attendees will leave with a clearer picture of how different segments of the power sector are approaching today’s defining issues, and where their priorities align, diverge, and intersect.

This executive panel brings together leaders from across the power sector for an in-depth discussion of the issues shaping the industry today. The discussion may explore current trends in generation, transmission, and distribution, along with the regulatory environment, supply chain pressures, demand growth, and workforce considerations influencing strategic decisions. The session will offer attendees a direct view into how utilities are adapting their planning, operations, and investment priorities to meet a rapidly evolving landscape.

Women are driving innovation and transformation across the power sector. This panel highlights how diverse leadership strengthens organizational resilience, fosters inclusive practices, and fuels progress in a rapidly evolving industry. Hear from trailblazers as they share strategies for recruiting women into energy roles, advancing careers, and breaking barriers. Whether you're new to the field or a seasoned professional, this session offers insights to empower your journey and build a more inclusive energy future.

Across the country, state policymakers and regulators are taking proactive steps to meet the challenge of load growth. What are the policies, regulatory strategies, and state programs that have worked for responding to growth while keeping costs low for ratepayers?

The U.S power sector is going through profound change. The new administration slowed the pace of regulatory initiatives, courts placed key rules on hold, and multiple environmental standards affecting generation and transmission entered periods of reconsideration. At the same time, demand pressures from data centers, electrification, and broader economic growth continued to mount, leaving utilities and power producers facing critical choices about where to invest in new generation, how quickly to retire aging assets, and how to plan for compliance in a policy environment defined by uncertainty.

Against this backdrop, the session will provide a comprehensive update on the environmental regulations shaping the industry and examine how ongoing litigation could alter the trajectory of rulemaking and permitting timelines into 2026 and beyond. It will also challenge the traditional view of permitting as a purely technical and regulatory exercise governed by statutes, studies, and agency schedules. In practice, permitting is deeply political: community sentiment, local leadership dynamics and organized advocacy cam all determine whether a project advances smoothly or becomes mired in controversy. Building on this dual regulatory and political context, attendees will learn practical approaches for treating permitting as both a compliance requirement and a political pathway. 

This panel will focus on AI’s role and application across the utility lifecycle. From generation, control systems, and emission monitoring, AI is playing an ever increasingly important role on security and predictive maintenance.