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From The Desk of Ken Wilmot (Alltricity Network Executive Director)
The year is already building great momentum, and alongside a strong lineup of upcoming activities on our Events & Education Calendar, we’re especially looking ahead to the 2026 Alltricity Network Spring Conference—one of our premier annual gatherings. This event brings together professionals from across the network for timely discussions, knowledge sharing, and meaningful networking, featuring a dynamic lineup of general and breakout sessions with expert perspectives and timely topics shaping this year’s program.
Explore more details below, mark your calendar, and we look forward to connecting with many of you this spring!
👀 View Topics At-A-Glance for the 2026 Alltricity Network Spring Conference
📅 April 27-29, 2026
📍 Hilton Omaha | Omaha, NE
🏨 Book your discounted room in the Alltricity Network block by April 6
👉 Learn more & register!
Join industry peers at the Alltricity Network Spring Management, Engineering, and Operations Conference, featuring 20+ expert-led sessions across key utility disciplines, customizable breakout tracks, and high-impact networking with professionals and exhibitors from across the industry. Visit the 2026 Spring Conference event page for the latest details, schedule at-a-glance, and conference highlights.
🧠 Find the breakout session topics relevant to your role
Explore the 2026 Spring Conference breakout sessions on trends, technology, operations, leadership, and more that are tailored to your role, including:
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Transmission & Distribution |
Leadership |
- PANEL: Plant Life Extensions & Compliance in the Evolving Utility Landscape
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- PANEL: Utility Innovation: Advancing Smart Grid, AMI 2.0 & DER Management Systems & Technologies
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- PANEL: Powering the Future: Building Talent & Leadership in the Power Industry
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- Advancing Small Modular Reactors: Current Status & Deployment Progress
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- Xcel Energy’s Approach to Grid-Enhancing Technologies & 765kV System Innovation
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- AI in Action: Opportunities, Risks & the Road to Smarter Operations
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- Permitting & Compliance: Strategies to Accelerate Timelines
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- From Design to Decision: Leveraging AI for Next-Generation Engineering Support
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- Engage, Empower, Elevate: Tools for Transforming Your Workplace
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- Reskilling the Future: People Power Beyond Coal
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- PANEL: Utility Perspectives on System Reliability & Asset Management
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- Artificial Intelligence & How Machine Learning is Changing Cybersecurity
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- The Modern Balancing Act: Renewables, Reliability & the Role of Synchronous Condensers
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- Modeling Reliability in a Rapid-Interconnection Era: Data Centers, Load Growth & System Stressors
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- Redefining Rewards: The New Era of Total Compensation
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- Data Center Energy Independence: Behind the Meter Generation Solutions
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- PANEL: From Risk to Readiness: Wildfire Intelligence & Utility Responses
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- Powering Knowledge: Training Strategies for a Resilient Utility Future
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Check out the full slate of 2026 Spring Conference Topics At-A-Glance, including the Day 1 and Day 2 Keynote Speaker presentations, Senior Leadership Panel, roundtable receptions, and more!
🤝 Spring Conference Sponsorship Opportunities Available
Reach a diverse electric utility audience and enhance your organization's visibility at the 2026 Spring Conference through Tabletop Sponsorships. View sponsorship opportunities and reserve your spot today. If you have questions or would like to discuss a customized opportunity, please contact us at info@alltricitynetwork.org.
⛳ Save the date for the 2026 Alltricity Scholarship Foundation Golf Tournament
June 23, 2026 | Arrowhead Golf Club | Littleton, CO
Grab your clubs and join us for a day on the course that delivers more than just a great round of golf. The 2026 Golf Tournament, hosted by the Alltricity Scholarship Foundation, blends friendly competition, industry connection, and real impact—all in support of scholarships for the next generation of electric utility professionals. Learn more about the 2026 Golf Tournament and view the event brochure.
Tournament proceeds go directly toward scholarships that open doors for ambitious students, strengthen our workforce pipeline, and support the future of the electric utility industry and the communities it serves. Thanks to dedicated supporters, the Foundation has awarded over 700 scholarships and contributed over $1.6 million to students since 2000.
Registration Schedule *Register early—space fills up quickly!*
- Sponsor Registration Only: March 2-23
- General Registration: March 24-30
- Open Registration: March 31-June 5
View full Golf Tournament Registration Schedule details and sponsorship opportunities, and we look forward to teeing off with you for a GREAT cause soon!
🧰 Alltricity Network: A resource for you
We’re here to support you and your organization with timely, relevant educational and networking opportunities. We encourage you to share our development opportunities with your peers, workgroups, and professional network! Our Education Committees—comprised of dedicated members—work hard to provide timely, relevant, and thoughtfully curated educational and networking opportunities. Have a topic or presentation idea for a conference or workshop?—Feel free to contact us anytime!
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2026 Distribution Planning & Operations Conference—February 24-25, 2026 (Kansas City, MO)
2026 Safety Conference—March 4-6, 2026 (Tempe, AZ)
Transmission Planning, Operations & Maintenance Conference—March 24-25, 2026 (Westminster, CO)
2026 Alltricity Network Spring Conference—April 27-29, 2026 (Omaha, NE)
Summer 2026 Alltricity Scholarship Foundation Golf Tournament—June 23, 2026 (Littleton, CO)
2026 Alltricity Network Fall Convention—October 5-7, 2026 (San Antonio, TX)
The association's trusted network is accessible on LinkedIn. Working side-by-side in a cooperative manner, Alltricity Network members band together for the common goal of bettering the industry and improving service for utility customers. For more than 120 years, these key principles have proven successful and, more importantly, are tried-and-true methods for building strong business relationships.
The growth of renewable energy jobs is not keeping pace with the global boom of installed clean energy capacity. That’s the finding of a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Labor Organization. The study finds that despite renewable energy installations hitting new highs, jobs in the sector have only increased by 2.3% from 2023, reaching 16.6 million in 2024.
Researchers say utilities are increasingly functioning as consumer-facing brands and, as a result, are encountering higher levels of scrutiny when prices rise or outages occur. A combination of record-high rates, extreme weather events, and growing demands for self-service digital tools is shaping the operating environment for the year ahead.
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Most experts would agree that the energy sector is currently weathering a storm of aggressively competing claims. Indeed, this can sound like a diplomatic understatement. A key reason is that energy-related factors are embedded in the transformative shift we are witnessing away from the post-WWII international order toward an era of rivalry among major centers of political, economic, and military power.
By mandating the generator’s availability to operate, the order “constitutes both a physical taking and a regulatory taking” of property by the government without just compensation, they said. Moreover, they said, keeping the unit available to operate “will not best meet DOE’s goal of securing dispatchable electricity resources in the northwestern United States.”
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As renewable energy integration deepens, short-duration storage like two-hour batteries no longer suffices for firm power. Long-duration, cycling-capable storage systems are essential to ensure reliability, stability, and resilience across diverse operating conditions, especially with wind and solar variability.
Congress has fully funded the Energy Star program through fiscal year 2026 as part of a funding bill that President Trump signed into law on Jan. 23. The administration tried to zero out the program in early 2025.
“The funding is a huge win,” Sabine Rogers, federal policy manager at the U.S. Green Building Council, said.
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According to the published announcement in the Federal Register, a categorical exclusion is “a category of actions that the agency has determined, as established in its agency NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) procedures, normally does not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and therefore does not require preparation of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement”.
For waste sites that have limited uses, generating power and offsetting maintenance costs may sound like a perfect solution. But ideals can come up against reality: installing solar on landfills tends to be more complicated than on other types of property. These projects are more expensive to build per megawatt and can take an average of five or more years to develop.
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Evergy’s strong record for hiring and retaining military veterans earned the company the 2025 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award. The U.S. Department of Labor recognizes employers for their dedication to hiring, supporting, and retaining veterans with the Gold Medallion Award. Veterans comprise 11% of Evergy’s workforce, compared to the national workforce average of 5%. Evergy also has an 80% retention rate among veteran employees.
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The company ranked first in social responsibility and placed fourth overall among the most admired electric and gas companies in the country. The ranking is based on nine attributes, including innovation, social responsibility, financial soundness, long-term investment value, quality of management, and ability to attract talent. A company’s score must rank in the top half of its industry survey to be listed.
For the first time, a collaborative research team is using airplanes equipped with state-of-the-art scanning lidar and imaging spectrometers, along with innovative computational modeling from ASU, to measure snowpack to determine how much water it contains. The airborne technology was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The findings will help SRP more accurately forecast runoff into the seven reservoirs that supply water to more than 2.5 million Valley residents.
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Lincoln Electric System is celebrating six decades as Lincoln’s locally owned utility, marking a milestone that reflects LES’ long-standing role in delivering reliable, affordable electricity and serving the community. “This anniversary offers a perspective on our past and inspires purpose for our future. It’s an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and to envision what comes next,” said Emeka Anyanwu, LES CEO.
CPS Energy is expanding its community solar program through a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking up to 50 megawatts (MW) of community solar—enough to power approximately 10,000 homes during peak energy demand hours. The initiative supports the utility’s Sustainable Tomorrow Energy Plan (STEP) and reflects its ongoing commitment to delivering reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy for the San Antonio and surrounding areas.
On Dec. 29, 2025, the Department of Environmental Quality issued an air permit for the Bison Generation Station project, the first natural gas-fired combined cycle plant to be built in North Dakota. “The issuance of the air construction permit is the culmination of significant efforts not just by Basin Electric’s permitting and development team, but also by the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality,” Erin Dukart, director of Environmental Services, said.
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Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas), a subsidiary of Basin Electric, recently improved its industry ranking with Factory Mutual Insurance (FM), moving from 33rd to first among industry peers over the last five years. “Higher scores mean better-managed risk and lower likelihood of loss,” John Frank, director of risk and insurance at Basin Electric, said. “Moving up in percentile or quartile means Dakota Gas is doing a good job of managing hazards at Dakota Gas, and historically that ties directly to fewer, less severe losses and better business continuity.”
Solid-state batteries could store more energy and charge faster than today’s batteries, but they tend to crack and fail over time. Stanford researchers found that a nanoscale silver treatment can greatly strengthen the battery’s ceramic core. The silver helps seal tiny flaws and prevents lithium from causing further damage. This simple approach could help unlock next-generation batteries.
As global energy demand surges—driven by AI-hungry data centers, advanced manufacturing, and electrified transportation—researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have unveiled a breakthrough that could help squeeze far more power from existing electricity supplies. Their new silicon-carbide-based power module, called ULIS, packs dramatically more power into a smaller, lighter, and cheaper design while wasting far less energy in the process.
Researchers have found that manganese, an abundant and inexpensive metal, can be used to efficiently convert carbon dioxide into formate, a potential hydrogen source for fuel cells. The key was a clever redesign that made the catalyst last far longer than similar low-cost materials. Surprisingly, the improved manganese catalyst even beat many expensive precious-metal options. The discovery could help turn greenhouse gas into clean energy ingredients.
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