Operating Under Load Growth: Forecasting, Interconnection, and Grid Capacity
How utilities, grid operators, asset owners, and large energy users are navigating forecast uncertainty, interconnection backlogs, and capacity constraints as large loads scale.
Description
Surging demand from data centers and other large loads in the US is reshaping how grid operators approach forecasting, interconnection, and reliability planning, as traditional processes and infrastructure timelines struggle to keep pace. Recent actions by ISOs and utilities—from tighter load-forecast vetting to interconnection queue reform—highlight the shift toward more disciplined, data-driven decision-making under uncertainty. This roundtable will bring together operators and solution providers in the US to examine the practical decisions being made today: what makes load forecasts actionable, how interconnection frameworks are evolving, where capacity can be unlocked from existing systems, and how flexible resources and large loads can be integrated more reliably—focusing on real operational workflows, constraints, and near-term outcomes rather than technology theory.
Background
Surging electricity demand from large, concentrated loads—most notably hyperscale data centers, advanced manufacturing, electrification of industrial processes, and emerging hydrogen production—is fundamentally altering the trajectory of U.S. power system planning. Unlike historical load growth, which was diffuse and incremental, today’s additions are geographically clustered, capital-intensive, a…
Date: 2026-02-25
Time (ET): 2:00 PM EST, Feb 25, 2026
Time (Local): 7:00 PM UTC, Feb 25, 2026
Location: online
Speakers
Sean Kelly
CEO, Amperon
Joshua Macey
Professor of Law, Yale Law School
Brenden Millstein
Cofounder and President, Centinel
Antonio J. Conejo
Professor, The Ohio State University
Guided Questions
Sean Kelly
Drawing on your background in energy trading and market integration of large assets, how can flexible large loads and behind-the-meter resources be structured to meaningfully alleviate capacity constraints without introducing new reliability risks or market distortions?
Brenden Millstein
Drawing on your work aligning landlord incentives, tenant savings, and performance-based service models, how should utilities and grid operators think about structuring programs so large building portfolios can provide measurable, dispatchable load flexibility rather than just passive efficiency gains?
Joshua Macey
Building on your work examining grid reliability as a pathway to clean energy deployment, what legal or regulatory changes would best align interconnection policy, capacity market rules, and cost allocation with the realities of scaling data centers and other high-demand industrial loads?