• Keynote: AI is the next Industrial Revolution, infrastructure buildout rivals railroad and highway systems
• Smaller-scale distributed energy often gets online faster and cheaper than larger counterparts

Distributed generation can help grow “the next Industrial Revolution” by energizing AI data centers through their speed to power and flexibility in deployment, ON.energy CEO and Co-Founder Alan Cooper said during his keynote at NPM’s DG & Data Center Development Forum 2026.

Cooper compared the AI data center buildout to other major infrastructure projects in US history, highlighting that AI companies are spending more money, and quicker, than was spent to build the railroad and interstate highway system.

On.Energy deploys gigawatts of energy storage and UPS for AI data centers, critical infrastructure, and grid assets. The company has more than 3 GW of operating and under-construction capacity.

“It’s clear that the US is the epicenter of AI, but the US also needs to become the epicenter of power. And I think actually that’s an opportunity for DG,” Cooper said.

Next level

Distributed generation needs to become radically different to take advantage of that opportunity, Cooper said.

“DG no longer means small. DG, I think, needs to be behind-the-meter application, greater diversity in the energy used, microgrid control systems, how they interact with the grid, multiple inputs and outputs, and I think all of these things are the tools required to take DG to the next level,” Cooper said.

The importance of speed to power is perhaps the most important element DG offers, Cooper said, and it’s important for the distributed generation sector to keep getting projects operational fast. Distributed generation should mean speed, not small, Cooper said.

A panel later in the day, “DG’s Response to Surging Data Center Demand,” provided more color on the idea.

Panelists included Cameron Bard, chief revenue officer at Madison Energy Infrastructure; David Wang, director of energy portfolio management at CoreWeave; Xio Gerlach, senior director of data center development at Strata Clean Energy; Scott Willis, president and chief executive officer at DartPoints; and Bill Grinstead, Co-Founder & CEO of Orenda. Elliot Hinds, a partner at Sheppard Mullin, moderated the panel.

Willis, whose firm is a data center developer, owner, and operator, said his company is currently in the “exploratory” stage of potentially using distributed generation for power. The company’s data centers aren’t like their hyperscaler peers – DartPoints’ developments are typically in the 10-100 MW range.

“We’re trying to understand economics in the power range from a behind-the-meter perspective – is that a viable solution, particularly in the lower end of that 10 to 20 to 30 to 40 to 50 MW?” Willis said during the panel.

Willis said a data center development could take advantage of demand cycles and alternate between charging and deploying its battery energy storage systems between the distributed generator and utility grid connection.

Unique blend

But Gerlach said energy-offtake structures can vary from state to state, so policy plays a large role in what type of energy data centers can use.

“There’s regulatory frameworks over how we can actually structure deals: who can sell power to whom, can you collate it, what is the regulated market versus unregulated?” Gerlach said.

Because of this variation from location to location, Gerlach said every project could have a unique blend of energy technologies and deal structures.

Wang added that data center developers are looking for more ways to integrate distributed generation into their sites, but policy needs to lead those conversations. Data center projects need a lot of capacity, Wang said, so flexibility on the size and capabilities of distributed generation and storage is crucial.

Grinstead, whose firm builds battery storage in New York City, said he thinks there’s a need for utility tariff reform and changes as to how distributed energy technologies are being integrated together.

“In a world in which you have both a tariff that properly incentivizes how these batteries operate, and you have utilities that are studying these practices for how they should operate, I actually think that community solar and storage projects help one another,” Grinstead said.

Bard said MEI is trying to redefine what distributed generation can look like in the modern market, and bigger is not always better. He highlighted the shift from how community solar developers used to market and showcase their projects – with aerial drone footage and photos of massive panel arrays – to how they currently present projects, which show street-level images that more closely relate to what residents in those communities will regularly see.

“Now, where were the hyperscalers a year or two years ago? They were bragging about Manhattan-sized data centers coming into small, western communities because it was exciting, but that’s not exciting for those hosts. We’ve already started to see a lot of lessons learned and lessons incorporated,” Bard said. “We’re going to be here for decades – how do we show up as a good neighbor? I think that’s an extraordinary opportunity for the world all of us participate in because we can provide tangible and permanent infrastructure and value to communities.”