About Microgrids

What’s the Big News in Big D? Microgrid Knowledge Conference 2025 April 15-17

April 11, 2025

The most compelling action for steady microgrid growth is customer education. And there's plenty to learn next week at the Sheraton Dallas.

Rod Walton, Managing Editor

Dallas skyline image Wangkun Jia/Shutterstock.com

Here are the three Big Ds in Dallas next week: Decarbonization, Distribution and Data.

Consider the last of those three: Some data takes the form of questions about the future. Nearly a year ago, the microgrid industry was hitting a summer of growth and yet of uncertainty about the future.

We at Microgrid Knowledge then asked five longtime industry experts what’s on tap for on-site power development in advancing its value proposition for the 2020s and beyond.

“The most compelling action for steady microgrid growth is customer education,” said Steve Pullins, who spent much of his career heading up microgrid efforts at Schneider Electric and AlphaStruxure, but is now CEO of consulting firm ResSet.us. “Today, knowledge of solar PV pros and cons is mainstream within the customer community, but the other technologies are well behind from a customer awareness perspective.”

Knowledge is power, literally, and there will be no better place to gain a greater understanding of microgrids and their various attributes and value streams then at the Microgrid Knowledge Conference happening next week, April 15-17, at the Sheraton Dallas in Texas.

The Lone Star state is the one of the nation’s biggest adopters of both commercial microgrids and distributed energy resources. Texas is working hard to strengthen its macro and microgrid resiliency after several crises within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system.

The roster of microgrid talent and learning opportunities at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel will be major. Sessions focus on every facet of the industry, such as monetizing grid support, advancing energy access in grid-restricted regions, asset management and the big ones of the moment: how to generate enough power to supply future growth of data centers and industrial electrification.

Microgrid players that will be participating in the Microgrid Knowledge Conference next week include Concord Engineering, New Sun Road, CPower, ELM, Eaton, Ameresco, Duke Energy, S&C Electric, Schneider Electric, PowerSecure, American Microgrid Solutions, Spirae, Xendee, Wood Mackenzie and more. Power generators that are deep into the on-site power deployment include Cummins and Innio Jenbacher and Generac.

Participants from outside the microgrid services sector include the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, CALSTART, University of Texas at Dallas and global professional services firm Accenture.

University and healthcare microgrids of the future are certainly in focus, but the fastest and most concerning issue facing power generation providers is the exponential growth of data center capacity due to the rise of artificial intelligence and hyperscale needs. “Powering Data Centers: Collaborative Microgrid Solutions for a Growing Market,” will feature experts from Eradeh Power, Wood Mackenzie and Baker Hughes in a session beginning 10:45 a.m. CT Wednesday, April 16.

Check out the Microgrid Knowledge Conference page for more details on session content and speakers. The sessions were formed by an advisory board that includes Co-Chair Ken Horne, of Spring Lane Capital, who has been to every MGK Conference since it’s inception a decade ago. Other advisors include microgrid leaders with Enchanted Rock, Scale Microgrids, the St. Thomas University Microgrid Research Center in Minnesota and host of other developers and service providers in the distributed energy sector.

Registration is still open through early next week. Microgrids are a multi-billion business and also the answer to concerns about power resiliency and sustainability for many mission critical customers. Join us in Big D.

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.