Sept 30 - Oct 1, 2026
Omni Shoreham
Washington, D.C.
official event of 
Program Agenda
A senior federal energy official outlines how regulators view emerging data center demand and the proceedings most likely to affect projects.
A congressional or policy leader discusses national security, permitting, and transmission policy signals relevant to large-scale AI and data center build-out.
Independent analysts translate semiconductor and AI roadmaps into MW/GWh projections and uncertainty ranges for long-lived assets—training vs. inference load shapes, density trends, regional concentration.
Federal practitioners (FERC, DOE) and state environmental agency directors examine where generation and data center siting approvals are actually clearing today—and what a realistic federal permitting path looks like for projects reaching final investment decision.
Hyperscalers, utilities, and consumer advocates examine who pays, how costs are framed, and what actually moves local stakeholders to support projects.
Finance, developer, and utility perspectives on which emerging deal structures—from build-and-transfer to multi-party ownership—are gaining traction, and what risk allocation tools lenders require before capital commits.
Utilities, ISOs, and FERC representatives detail why projects remain stuck in interconnection queues post-reform—queue management, congestion modeling, transmission topology—and what procedural changes could shorten timelines from years to months.
A utility executive presents the generation and infrastructure plan required to serve projected data center load, including timing and cost realities.
A hyperscaler explains how siting, reliability, flexibility, and contractual obligations shape their power procurement decisions.
Utility and hyperscaler leaders discuss what concrete terms and risk allocations would allow large, long-term capacity agreements to close—using live deal structures as the basis for the conversation.
System planners, chip experts, and data center operators align on updated demand forecasts, density trends, and operational load patterns—and what uncertainty bands mean for 20-year capital decisions.
Developers and technology providers examine the pipeline for firm power across gas, nuclear, and geothermal through the late 2020s and beyond—organized around impediments, opportunities, and use cases for each fuel type. Hyperscalers discuss which technologies match their procurement needs and timelines, and how use cases map to specific generation types.
Operators and developers share lessons from 100-MW-class on-site power solutions—including gas, storage, and emerging nuclear options at microreactor scale—covering risks, economics, and interaction with the bulk grid.
Grid and asset experts compare multiple stability solutions—synchronous condensers, advanced storage, algorithmic controls—by use case, cost, and deployment readiness today versus 2028.
Data centers are not typically flexible loads. Today, about a gigawatt of contracted data center flexibility is in place across multiple U.S. utilities. This flexible capacity has the potential to expand in the future because of EPRI's DCFlex work with hyperscalers, utilities, technology providers, system operators and data center developers. Over the last two years, DCFlex developed a framework, called Flex MOSAICTM, that provides a common language for flexibility in the data center industry. The DCFlex initiative has also tested how far that flexibility can go. This briefing presents an overview of the Flex MOSAIC classification framework, potential applications of the framework and evidence from DCFlex's in-production demonstrations.
Senior representatives from the major trade associations spanning generation, load, and clean energy—including electric utilities, nuclear, data center operators, and grid stakeholders—give their honest read on where the industry is gaining ground and where the binding constraints are most likely to derail announced projects.