Conferences
ACT in Pictures
Jun 3, 202621 min read
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TodayPolicy, regulation, engines, emission norms and clean-fuel intelligence for decision makers.
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EGSA’s Fall 2026 Conference, themed “Powering Data Centers,” brought together generator manufacturers, distributors, specifying engineers, electrical and controls suppliers, service providers and energy analysts to examine how on-site power is being reshaped by the AI-driven data center build-out. The sessions summarized here ranged from the demand outlook and modular power to emission standards and testing, field service, aftertreatment retrofits and enclosure noise.
Analysts projected steep growth in AI power demand and expect a meaningful share of new capacity to be supplied on site through prime power, microgrids and modular power blocks. Speakers also highlighted the constraints — project cancellations, grid-interconnection and fault ride-through rules, air permitting, and the limits EPA places on how emergency-certified engines may be operated. Several presenters stressed that reliability and compliance depend as much on planning, maintenance, documentation and system integration as on the hardware itself.
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AI demand is outrunning the grid. Uptime Institute (keynote) projected global data center energy use rising from about 500 TWh in 2025 to about 1,400 TWh by 2035, with the power demand of announced projects above 100 MW growing from 36 GW in 2021–2023 to 181 GW in 2025. Bring-your-own-power solutions were estimated at up to ~30% of the build-out, yet 51% of 2021–2024 proposals were described as uncertain, delayed, stalled or cancelled. On-site generation is increasingly expected to be grid-connected, permitted for continuous operation and low-emission.
Data centers become grid participants. Schneider Electric estimated AI at ~52% (~110 GW) of roughly 210 GW of cumulative new data center build to 2030, with rack densities moving from about 150 kW today toward 1 MW and distribution evolving toward 800 VDC. With grid connections quoted at five years or more, it pointed to microgrids, energy parks, behind-the-meter generation and storage — and to fault ride-through capability, without which some utilities will not permit an interconnection.
The case for Modular Data Centers & Power. A session on modular data centers and modular power argued that factory-built, factory-tested blocks of generator, switchgear, ATS and controls shift deployment from building on site to “connect and configure,” cutting commissioning risk and reliance on scarce MEP labour. The value was framed as removing variability: fewer architectures, repeatable across sites, with predictable baselines.
Redundancy without stranded capacity. Rehlko compared generator topologies and explained why non-paralleled “data hall” designs — N+1 with a reserve unit, or the distributed “5-to-make-4” arrangement — dominate North American hyperscale projects, delivering redundancy and concurrent maintainability while stranding far less capacity than a paralleled 2N block. Yard layout matters too: racking is the more accepted way to elevate gensets, with site-level CFD used to avoid hot-air recirculations.
From stranded asset to revenue tool — within EPA limits. Integra Mission Critical estimated over one million emergency generators above 50 kW in North America (400+ GW) sitting idle about 99.8% of their lives, and set out peak shaving, demand response and virtual power plant pathways to monetize them. The regulatory boundary was the caution: emergency-certified engines are limited to emergencies plus 100 hours a year, and economic dispatch requires non-emergency Tier 4 Final certification, prime or continuous ratings and utility-grade protection.
NFPA 110 (2025) shifts from compliance to reliability. Mongoose Power Solutions reviewed the new edition’s most significant changes: reliability-centered maintenance is permitted, more starting-battery technologies and test methods are recognized, and Level 1 systems must monitor remote start-signal wiring for faults. The underlying message was that a compliant generator does not create a compliant Emergency Power Supply System, and that reports should communicate readiness rather than completed tasks.
AI at the seams of field service. Service Pro by MSI Data argued that generator service teams face denser routes, hour-long SLA windows, badging and compliance evidence and a shrinking technician pool — problems that surface as paperwork rather than wrenching. Its position was that today’s AI value lies in job briefs, guided capture and faster closeout measured by “time to invoice,” not in autonomous diagnosis.
Emissions: tighter rules, preventable failures. Rolls-Royce Solutions America traced failed data center stack tests to commissioning pressure, uninspected DEF, port caps left in place, load bank errors and unannounced transient operation — not to engine hardware. Recommended practice includes de-greening an engine for at least eight hours at full load, holding stable load before sampling, and agreeing contingency plans with the regulator.
Catalysts fail mostly from use, not design. Accurate OEM identified low load, missed or forced regeneration, poor DEF quality and coolant contamination as the five main causes of aftertreatment failure, and compared cleaning, new OEM parts, aftermarket units and remanufacturing. Company-reported dyno data showed a remanufactured SCR cutting NOx from 556 to 16 ppm (97%), and spent units were valued at $500–$600 for their platinum and palladium content.
Demand response is pulling retrofits forward. MSHS Pacific Power Group described a utility program that dispatches customer-owned standby generators as grid reserves, and the state air rules following it: SCR requirements in Virginia and Georgia, dispersion-modelling-driven SCR in Washington and Oregon, and Oregon’s 2023 move to require DPF plus DOC. Retrofitting filters onto lightly loaded standby engines demands attention to regeneration temperature, backpressure and support structures.
Openings decide enclosure noise. American Acoustical Products showed how even small openings sharply reduce enclosure sound attenuation, and why acoustics must enter the design early.
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This free edition captures the headlines only. The MobilityNotes members’ report covers every session in depth, including:
• Detailed summaries of all eleven sessions with key figures, charts and a key takeaway per talk
• Data center demand scenarios
• Generator topologies, modular power blocks, EPA emergency vs. non-emergency engine rules and key NFPA 110 (2025) changes
• Emissions test-failure cases, catalyst repair options, DPF retrofit design rules, enclosure noise data and AI in field service — with clickable references