One of the perks of attending a massive event like DTECH or RE+ is the opportunity to ask a few folks what’s on their minds. You’ll quickly catch on to the trends driving the energy industry in 2025: electric load growth fueled by data centers, rising power prices, federal anti-renewable sentiment, the booming battery market, grid modernization/hardening, and artificial intelligence adoption, to name a few.
All of that stuff is important, no doubt, but another benefit of having access to tens of thousands of power producers, utilities, equipment providers, and consultants is discovering what they’re thinking about that nobody else is: a new fad, a lingering concern, or a pioneering project.
I asked dozens of industry professionals to share the thing that’s rattling around in their brains but likely hasn’t made it mainstream. The responses were thoughtful and wide-ranging, providing unique insight into the problems power producers and service providers face and offering a glimpse at what might be coming down the pike.