Agenda

8:00 – 9:00 am

Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:45 am

Opening Keynote: Future Power Plants as Intelligent Energy Hubs

This forward-looking opening address discusses the evolution of the power plant into an intelligent energy hub that coordinates generation, renewables, storage, grid interaction and process demand as one integrated system. It explores how flexible generation, AI-enabled optimization and advanced control architectures can improve reliability, economics and decarbonization as operating conditions become more dynamic. A staged roadmap outlines the transition from digitalization and integration toward predictive and increasingly autonomous operation.

9:45 – 10:30 am

Microgrid Feasibility to Optimize Development, Execution, and ROI

What is the technical definition of a “microgrid”? Microgrid systems, designs, and intentions are far more complex and risky than PV-only or generator-only projects. What are typical components of a microgrid system? What is entailed in a quality feasibility study? Why is it a fundamental part of a successful microgrid project? Which engineering design and financial questions should be asked during the planning and decision-making stages to ensure the system will accomplish critical goals as intended? Attendees of this session will gain a better understanding of microgrid systems, project development, underwriting challenges, and risk reduction.

- Technical fundamentals and considerations for early-stage microgrid development
- Key strategies to mitigate risks and costly execution gaps through proper feasibility studies
- Key financial questions that should be addressed during the planning stage

10:30 – 11:00 am

Networking Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:15 pm

Utility, Community & Resiliency Microgrid Deployments

Utilities and municipalities are increasingly deploying community and utility-owned microgrids to improve resilience, manage distributed energy growth, and support critical services. This session explores deployment models, ownership structures, and operational lessons.

- Strategies for community resilience planning
- Evolving utility microgrid models
- Case studies of leading municipal deployments
- Addressing interconnection complexity remains significant
- Advances in multi-customer systems

12:15 – 1:15 pm

Lunch Break

1:15 – 2:30 pm

Energy Storage Integration, EMS Platforms & Intelligent Controls

This session discusses advances in energy management systems and storage optimization platforms for successful microgrid operations. Panelists will explore EMS architecture developments, DER orchestration, battery optimization, and autonomous control strategies. The discussion will be driven by case study analysis and results from the field.

- Advancements in EMS platforms
- Improving storage economics through optimization
- The role of DER coordination in enhancing reliability
- Adoption of autonomous controls
- Status of interoperability standards

2:30 – 3:00 pm

Networking Coffee Break

3:00 – 4:00 pm

Campus, Healthcare & Mission-Critical Microgrids

Universities, healthcare systems, military bases, and transportation hubs continue to lead advanced microgrid deployments. This session looks at specific case studies of hybrid sustainable energy microgrids to explore operational priorities, reliability strategies, and lessons learned from mission-critical facilities.

- Healthcare resiliency requirements
- Advances in campus systems sophistication
- Islanding capabilities – integrating with the utility
- Business models and economic considerations
- Reliability metrics driving investments

4:00 – 5:00 pm

AI Infrastructure, Data Centers & Flexible Energy Storage Systems

Rapid data center expansion and AI-driven electricity demand are creating new opportunities for resilient distributed energy and storage infrastructure. This session explores the evolving role of microgrids in supporting high-density computing environments.

- Microgrids and energy storage applications for data centers
- Data centers as grid assets
- Flexible power architectures
- Innovations in addressing power center cooling requirements
- Storage supporting load management

5:00 – 6:30 pm

Reception

Wednesday, December 2, 2026

8:00 – 9:00 am

Coffee and Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:45 am

Microgrid Economics and Financial Modeling

Engineering a microgrid is one challenge; securing financing and ensuring the project is profitable is another. This session will review various funding structures, revenue streams, costs, and financial risks for commercial-scale microgrids. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the fundamental concepts that drive value for multi-DER projects, and how to think about assets through the lens of opportunities, risks, and constraints.

9:45 – 10:15 am

Easing the Path for Community Microgrids: Policy Solutions for Resilient Power in Michigan

This session examines the regulatory barriers to community microgrids serving multiple properties, using Michigan as a case study. It explores challenges related to distribution-system ownership, service across property lines, tariffs and compensation, while highlighting the broader resilience and grid benefits community microgrids can provide. Emerging policy approaches in Oregon and other states will be considered as potential models for enabling more effective community microgrid development.

10:15 – 10:45 am

Networking Coffee Break

10:45 – 11:15 am

Industrial Microgrids, Battery Storage & Energy Security

Industrial and commercial operators are investing in microgrids and onsite storage systems to manage rising electricity costs, improve reliability, and support decarbonization objectives. This session will examine practical deployment models and operational strategies, addressing topics such as:

- Time-to-power and achieving energy security for C&I customers
- Enabling technologies, challenges and opportunities
- Battery deployments as key components of C&I systems
- The state of flexible onsite generation
- Enhancing resiliency and improving operational continuity

11:15 – 12:15 pm

Renewable Integration, Solar-Plus-Storage & Hybrid Microgrids

Solar, wind, fuel cells, and storage are increasingly combined into hybrid microgrid systems capable of supporting resilient and low-carbon operations. This session reviews architecture strategies and the operational optimization of such systems, including such topics as:

- Advances in hybrid systems reliability
- Renewables penetration – trends and projections
- Dispatch optimization and curtailment reduction
- Recent developments in storage supporting renewable integration

12:15 – 1:15 pm

Lunch Break

1:15 – 2:15 pm

Utility Coordination, Interconnection & Grid-Interactive Storage

Microgrids and storage systems are evolving into grid-interactive assets capable of supporting broader utility operations. This session explores interconnection challenges, grid services participation, and utility coordination frameworks.

- Evolving grid services markets
- Interconnection reform
- Maximizing operational flexibility for utilities
- Demand response and aggregation models – recent case studies

2:15 – 2:45 pm

Networking Coffee Break

2:45 – 4:00 pm

Resilient Microgrids for Extreme Weather & Grid Outages

Climate-driven grid disruptions are increasing demand for resilient distributed energy systems. This session examines how microgrids and storage systems are being designed to withstand outages, severe weather, and infrastructure failures.

- The role of distributed energy systems in outage mitigation
- Hardening strategies and enabling technologies
- Lessons learned from recent case studies
- Leveraging storage and microgrids in recovery planning

Get in touch

Copyright 2026 Smart Grid Observer. All rights reserved