Rod Walton

1 week ago | microgridknowledge.com | Rod Walton

The weather was lovely in Dallas this past week. Sunny skies and spring breezes dominated while like-minded people connected with each other over the future of electricity delivery throughout the nation and world. Yes, conditions were nearly perfect in the environmental atmosphere around the Sheraton Dallas where the Microgrid Knowledge Conference 2025 took place, but the conversational atmosphere, while extremely positive and friendly, was thick with darker and tougher issues.

1 week ago | energytech.com | Rod Walton

One of the fastest developed liquified natural gas expert terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast has started production to ship LNG to numerous European and global customers. The beginning of commercial export operations at Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG facility strengthens the U.S. role as leading LNG exporter in the world, thanks to the rise of shale gas production throughout the nation. The project already has several multi-billion-dollar supply agreements.

1 week ago | microgridknowledge.com | Rod Walton

The data center boom has sparked both excitement and dread all around the world. Utilities marvel over the future electricity sales but stress now about how they will meet that demand through hugely expensive power plant and transmission system construction. It’s not just a U.S. issue, In Dublin, Ireland, the overwhelming tide of rising data center demand caused leaders to put a multi-year moratorium on new data centers within that city district.

2 weeks ago | microgridknowledge.com | Rod Walton

Here are the three Big Ds in Dallas next week: Decarbonization, Distribution and Data. Consider the last of those three: Some data takes the form of questions about the future. Nearly a year ago, the microgrid industry was hitting a summer of growth and yet of uncertainty about the future. We at Microgrid Knowledge then asked five longtime industry experts what’s on tap for on-site power development in advancing its value proposition for the 2020s and beyond.

2 weeks ago | microgridknowledge.com | Rod Walton

Enthusiasm to learn more about how nuclear energy may intersect strategies for power resiliency and emissions reduction is finding its way back to the fount of research-oriented thinking—the American university campus. In the latest sign of this movement's advancement the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will house a micro modular test reactor (MMR) built on its campus.