2026 Conference Sessions

Powering the AI Era: A New Blueprint for Growth

January 21, 2026

08:15 AM - 09:15 AM

Exhibit Hall - Hall 1

Keynote

All badge holders are eligible to attend.

As artificial intelligence and data centers reshape the energy landscape, power providers are racing to meet soaring electricity demand with speed, reliability and sustainability in mind. This keynote brings together industry leaders driving that transformation to explore how the sector is rethinking resource planning, generation strategy and customer partnerships to keep pace. Hear how utilities, developers and data center operators are aligning around new business models for reliability and growth, and how these shifts are redefining the generation mix and influencing which technologies will power the grid of the future.

Panel Moderator

Richard Esposito, R&D Program Manager - SOUTHERN COMPANY

Speakers

Gene Alessandrini, SVP of Energy and Location Strategy - CyrusOne

Simon Tusha, CEO - TECfusions

Jennifer Knott, Executive Director, Strategy Implementation - NextEra Energy

Elaina Ball, Chief Strategy Officer - CPS Energy

POWERGEN has been really helpful in identifying the industry scale of what’s going on behind the scenes, and how that affects each and every one of us across different divisions, levels, and inputs in the industry itself [...] That’s something not everybody gets to experience at other conferences.

Sarah White

Associate Electric Co-op, Inc.

The most valuable part of POWERGEN is networking with peers, walking the exhibit floor, and seeing all the activity and energy across the industry. For me, the level of engagement is a strong indication that the future of this industry is in a good place, and I’m excited to be representing this event.

Raj Katamreddy

Vistra

I love the networking. Everyone who’s part of POWERGEN is here, and it’s great to collaborate, meet new vendors in the market, see who’s doing what, and learn about the projects that are happening. It’s a great place for intel.

Sarah Hoelzen

The Williams Companies, Inc

POWERGEN is really important to us. It's an ideal opportunity to come meet existing customers and partners, meet new customers and partners, and showcase the new products that we bring to market.

Sarah Nicholls

STAMFORD | AVK

POWERGEN gives us the opportunity to meet prospective engineering firms, EPCs, and customers, and to share insight into our capabilities in manufacturing centrifugal pumps and supporting the nuclear industry.

Santosh KulkarnI

ANDRITZ

POWERGEN allows us to connect with all of our peers and it brings in folks that are maybe not quite familiar with everything in power, and they get to come to one place and see it all in one place and make new connections.

Sammy Haggar

Wildcat Power Gen