In this episode, T&D World Editorial Director Nikki Chandler and Head of Content Amy Fischbach recap their experience at the 2026 IEEE PES T&D Conference and Exposition in Chicago, one of the largest events in the global power and utility industry. The discussion centers on several major themes that dominated the conference, including affordability, resiliency, reliability, AI, data center growth and grid modernization.
Amy reflects on attending the conference for the first time and discusses the scale of the event, the international participation and the collaborative atmosphere among engineers, utilities and technology companies. Nikki highlights insights from IEEE PES’s Vision 2050 initiative, which explored how consumers around the world view energy priorities such as affordability and clean energy. The conversation also focuses heavily on the growing electricity demand driven by AI and hyperscale data centers, and how utilities are preparing for what many executives described as the largest grid expansion cycle in decades.
Nikki and Amy discuss the increasing importance of public communication and community engagement as utilities accelerate transmission projects and infrastructure upgrades. They also examine how engineers are becoming more visible voices in industry discussions, though they remain largely absent from mainstream public conversations around energy policy and grid reliability.
Additional topics include workforce shortages, the deployment of advanced grid technologies, the growing role of data analytics and AI in utility operations, and observations from the exhibition floor, where vendors showcased technologies aimed at improving efficiency, resiliency and operational visibility. The episode concludes with reflections on a tour of S&C Electric’s manufacturing and technology facilities in Chicago and how the visit illustrated the rapid pace of transformation occurring across the power industry.
