Utility Microgrids

Utilities Recognize Value of Microgrids: Many Speaking at MGK Conference 24

March 22, 2024

Speakers from the IOUs, municipal and co-op sectors spotlighted at MGK will include Cobb EMC of Georgia, American Municipal Power, Ameren, Duke Energy, Georgia Power, Baltimore Gas & Electric, EPB of Chattanooga, Tenn., Exelon, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.

Rod Walton, Managing Editor

Electric utilities, whether they are investor-owned, municipal or cooperatives, are compelled to keep the big picture in mind.

Centralized generation, energy equitability and cost-effective, resilient delivery have historically been key to their reputations with customers. Utility-scale describes a mission built around massive power plants, interstate transmission lines, secured substations, and complex distribution lines.

Utilities spend at least $100 billion annually on a continual modernization of transmission and distribution systems. The capital spent will only grow if society is to reach net zero goals.

But even the giants think small sometimes. More and more, utilities are finding value in microgrids and distributed energy resources such as solar, wind and batteries.

The upcoming Microgrid Knowledge Conference will welcome a high-level representation of utilities and public power providers to talk about their focus on DERs, both aggregated and otherwise. Microgrid 2024 is happening April 22-24 at the Marriott Waterfront along Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Spotlighted speakers from the investor owned utility, municipal and co-op sectors at MGK will include Cobb EMC of Georgia, American Municipal Power, Ameren, Duke Energy, Georgia Power, Baltimore Gas & Electric, EPB of Chattanooga, Tenn., Exelon, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.

The meshing of ideas and innovations linking the main grid with microgrids connects the now and future goals of the energy transition. Although decentralized power generation is surely a movement of its own, the legacy utilities are not standing on the sidelines.

The rising tide of microgrids and aggregated DERs can lift all participants. Leaders from other sectors in the electricity value chain coming to Microgrid Knowledge 2024 include those at the federal and state level, financiers, data centers, fleet electrification and EV charging, developers and power generation equipment manufacturers, among others.

Microgrid Knowledge 2024 will include more than 20 sessions featuring more than 70 industry leaders. Registration is open and the conference schedule can be found here.

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.