Save the date for POWERGEN 2027 taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah on Jan 18 – Jan 21, 2027

Powering the data center boom.
Load growth has become the defining challenge for the power generation industry. From utilities and IPPs to EPCs and OEMs, every stakeholder is racing to deliver new capacity – and POWERGEN is where the industry unites to make it happen.

Unprecedented Demand. Unmatched Opportunity.

A surge in data centers, industrial expansion, and electrification is reshaping power generation planning across North America. Utilities are under mounting pressure to maintain reliability and add new capacity. IPPs are accelerating project development to capture the opportunity. EPCs and OEMs are finding innovative ways to build faster, smarter, and stronger amid supply chain and permitting headwinds.

At POWERGEN 2026 we focused on what it takes to deliver real megawatts and how collaboration across the generation ecosystem can meet the moment.

POWERGEN is the industry’s leading business and education hub for power generation professionals. The conference brings together generator owner-operators, engineers, manufacturers, consultants and service providers who build, operate and maintain reliable megawatts during a period of rapid load growth. Attendees see what is working in the field, discover new technologies and connect with the companies that support their projects. They also learn real-world strategies to keep units online, manage costs and bring new capacity online on schedule.

Meet the Right People
At POWERGEN, our utmost priority is fostering one-on-one engagement and relationship building through our networking events. This aspect defines the essence of our event. Starting with breakfast roundtables to kickstart your day and culminating in enjoyable joint networking parties, you’ll leave with a stack of new business cards and valuable connections.

Services and Product Suppliers
Discover the exhibit hall buzzing with hundreds of companies offering products, technologies, and knowledge that provide solutions for the power generation industry. Explore POWERGEN for exceptional access to industry decision-makers, innovators, and the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Timely Education for Today’s Power Generation Industry
POWERGEN delivers timely, industry-driven education for the professionals planning, building, operating and maintaining power generation assets. Through expert-led sessions, case studies and peer exchange, attendees gain practical insights into the technologies, market shifts and operational challenges shaping the industry today.

From the Show:

POWERGEN is looking for engineers, plant managers, project developers, executives and technical experts who have done the work (and have something real to say about it). Our conference educational program is built on case studies, field experience, hard-won lessons and the latest market intelligence, not promotional presentations. If your team navigated a difficult outage, executed a complex project, solved a persistent reliability problem or deployed a new technology in a demanding operating environment, this is your platform.

Utilities, IPPs, EPCs and engineering firms, OEMs, O&M service providers, self-generators and large energy users are all encouraged to submit. Owner-operator participation is strongly valued, and the POWERGEN advisory committee gives significant weight to submissions that feature this perspective.

Why This Moment Matters
The power sector is under more pressure than it has been in a generation. Load growth, driven by data centers, industrial expansion and electrification, is outpacing the pace at which new generation can be permitted, financed and built. Retirements are accelerating. Reliability margins are tightening. Supply chains that were already strained are now being tested further by compressed project timelines and competing demand for equipment, labor and engineering capacity.

At the same time, new technologies are moving from concept toward early deployment. Advanced nuclear, long-duration storage, carbon capture and AI-driven plant analytics are no longer distant possibilities — they are active decisions for owner-operators and developers right now. The industry needs honest, practitioner-led analysis of what is working, what is not and what others should know before they commit capital or change course.

POWERGEN 2027 is being designed to meet that moment. The program will be shaped by the people closest to the work.

What POWERGEN Is Looking For
Submissions should be practical, non-commercial and decision-useful. The advisory committee is looking for content that helps professionals make better decisions about how assets are built, operated, maintained and improved. Strong proposals are focused on execution, performance, reliability, cost, schedule, compliance, digitalization or other specific challenges shaping real projects and real plants.

The strongest submissions share a common structure: here is the problem, here is what we did, here is what we learned, and here is what you can apply. Proposals that deliver that arc — with specificity, candor and technical grounding — are the ones that get selected and the ones that audiences remember.

Vendor-only submissions are considered but must clear a high bar for technical rigor and industry value. The program is not a venue for product promotion or company marketing.

Topics POWERGEN Is Prioritizing in 2027
See all topics with descriptions here
POWERGEN 2027 will cover a broad range of topics spanning market conditions, project development and delivery, generation technologies, plant operations, and digital transformation. The following areas reflect the most pressing issues the industry is working through right now:

Market Drivers and Planning

Electricity demand growth is reshaping everything: development pipelines, dispatch strategies, resource adequacy decisions and investment priorities. POWERGEN is looking for submissions that examine how load growth, including the surge from data centers, is changing how utilities and power producers plan their portfolios.

Related topics include resource and capacity planning in constrained markets, interconnection strategy (now one of the most important gating factors in any development decision), onsite and behind-the-meter power for large energy users, and the practical effects of evolving federal and state policy on generation investment and operations.

Plant O&M, Reliability and Performance

For many attendees, the operations and maintenance content is the core of POWERGEN. This is where practitioners share the hardest-won lessons from running, fixing and improving generation assets in a market that demands more flexibility, more uptime and tighter cost control than ever before.

POWERGEN is looking for submissions on reliability programs, outage planning and execution, lifecycle and asset management decisions, rotating equipment performance, electrical and balance-of-plant systems, efficiency and heat rate improvement, emissions compliance and control system performance. Upgrade strategies that increase output or improve reliability from existing sites are also a priority, particularly as new capacity takes longer to bring online.

Project Development and Delivery

POWERGEN 2027 introduces a dedicated Project Development and Delivery topic area to feature the experiences of EPCs, engineering firms and developers navigating a projected power generation buildout unlike anything the sector has seen in decades. This is a new and deliberate addition to the program, reflecting how central execution risk has become to every major capacity decision.

POWERGEN is actively seeking submissions from EPCs and engineering firms on how projects move from concept to commercial operation in today’s environment. This includes siting, permitting, contracting, procurement, engineering sequencing, risk management and schedule discipline.

Related areas include EPC and EPCM contracting strategy and risk allocation, supply chain and procurement challenges across new builds and major upgrades, and permitting, siting and community engagement realities for projects under development. The emphasis is on execution lessons: what practices, structures and decisions have helped projects advance or recover when conditions changed.

Generation Technologies

POWERGEN covers the full range of generation technologies in active deployment and active consideration across the industry. Submissions are welcome across all of the following areas:

Gas turbine and combined cycle — new build execution, major maintenance, performance tuning, uprates, fuel strategy, emissions compliance and cycling impacts
Steam cycle and HRSG — inspection, chemistry, failure prevention, bypass systems and maintenance strategy as plants operate more dynamically
Boilers — combustion performance, tube failures, materials issues, life extension and emissions-related upgrades
Nuclear — uprates, license extensions, unretirements, outage performance and capital planning for both the existing fleet and new build considerations
SMRs and advanced reactors — licensing, siting, supply chain readiness, first-of-a-kind development lessons and owner-operator interest
Hydropower — equipment upgrades, dam safety, operational optimization, relicensing and modernization strategy
Solar PV — project development, hybrid integration, interconnection, O&M and supply chain considerations
Wind — turbine technology, O&M, repowers, reliability and integration with broader portfolios
Geothermal — project development, drilling and subsurface risk, power cycle design and financing
Energy storage and hybrid configurations — integration, controls, dispatch strategy and project economics
Long-duration energy storage — technology evaluation, use cases, economics and integration challenges
Carbon capture and sequestration — capture technologies, project development, permitting, economics and integration with thermal assets
Hydrogen and alternative fuels — fuel blending, combustion impacts, infrastructure, storage and retrofit considerations
Cogeneration and combined heat and power — technology choices, thermal integration, fuel strategy and operating economics
Microgrids — design, controls, islanding capability, generation mix, storage integration and utility coordination
POWERGEN 2027 is scheduled for January 18-21, 2027, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.