Bridging the Data Center Power Gap: Utilities, On-Site Power, and the AI Buildout

Recorded live at the 2025 Data Center Frontier Trends Summit in Reston, VA, this panel brings together leading voices from the utility, IPP, and data center worlds to tackle one of the defining issues of the AI era: power.

Moderated by Buddy Rizer, Executive Director of Economic Development for Loudoun County, the session features:

• Jeff Barber, VP Global Data Centers, Bloom Energy

• Bob Kinscherf, VP National Accounts, Constellation

• Stan Blackwell, Director, Data Center Practice, Dominion Energy

• Joel Jansen, SVP Regulated Commercial Operations, American Electric Power

• David McCall, VP of Innovation, QTS Data Centers

Together they explore how hyperscale and AI workloads are stressing today’s grid, why transmission has become the critical bottleneck, and how on-site and behind-the-meter solutions are evolving from “bridge power” into strategic infrastructure.

The panel dives into the role of gas-fired generation and fuel cells, emerging options like SMRs and geothermal, the realities of demand response and curtailment, and what it will take to recruit the next generation of engineers into this rapidly changing ecosystem.

If you want a grounded, candid look at how energy providers and data center operators are working together to unlock new capacity for AI campuses, this conversation is a must-listen.