2026 Trade Show Season Previews Energy Tech Innovations

Rapid demand growth from data centers, renewables, and industrial activities is pushing utilities and manufacturers to redesign next-generation power systems around enhanced reliability and efficiency.

CES, PowerGen, APEC, and DTECH lineups for 2026 reveal how industry giants and startups plan to meet those challenges with new hardware and smarter software.

APEC 2025 exhibit hall. Image used courtesy of APEC

CES 2026: Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas

CES remains the place to gauge future‑tech trends. This year's schedule includes insights on the energy transition, EVs, smart grids, data center energy use, and consumer demand, with exhibitors showcasing solutions in solar, wind, carbon-reduction technologies, waste and water management, battery and energy storage, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, and AI tools.

Panasonic’s exhibit theme, The Future We Make, will feature AI infrastructure for energy-efficient data centers, including space‑saving energy storage systems, liquid‑cooling pumps and compressors, multi‑layer circuit board materials for high‑speed communication under high current, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment for high-capacity AI chips.

Panasonic’s 2025 CES exhibit. Image used courtesy of Panasonic

LG Energy Solution plans to promote its Better.Re integrated battery life management system, which won a CES 2026 Innovation Award. The company claims Better.Re doubles battery lifespan through smart charging and health diagnostics covering 16 critical metrics.

TDK Electronics will showcase several product families aimed at AI, communications, and mobility. The automotive portfolio focuses on EV and advanced driver assistance system applications, including compact 6‑axis inertial measurement units for sensing motion, 2D piezoelectric MEMS mirrors, and low-loss components for high-voltage DC/DC converters, onboard chargers, and other critical EV parts.

In the distributed energy space, Enphase Energy will demonstrate its fourth‑generation home energy system, combining solar, EV charging, energy storage, and smart controls. Enphase’s IQ bidirectional EV charger will also make its public debut at CES. Compatible with EVs that are compliant with ISO 15118 open standards, the system lets owners charge from solar, power their home during outages, and send power back to the grid.

PowerGen 2026: Jan. 20-22 in San Antonio, Texas

PowerGen returns with a focus on load growth and the data center boom.

Last year's event drew 7,200 power generation professionals and 472 exhibitors. In 2026, the 13-track technical program will be divided into three sections: Conventional gas turbines and nuclear energy technologies; renewable energy, including battery storage, hydropower, solar, and decarbonization; and cross-sector topics (AI, on-site power, load growth, operations and maintenance, emissions/environmental, policy, and engineering/EPC).

A 2025 PowerGen session. Image used courtesy of PowerGen

Presentations will spotlight solutions like Yamaguchi Heavy Industries' sustainable carbon steel products that integrate carbon‑capture and seaweed‑based sequestration, Bloom Energy's high-efficiency solid‑oxide fuel cells capable of load‑following on hydrogen or natural gas, and BaxEnergy's asset performance, SCADA, and control systems that manage more than 140 GW of wind, solar, or hybrid assets.

The opening keynote will feature a panel including executives from CPS Energy, Nvidia, and Sargent & Lundy discussing the AI boom and reliability risks. Then, a joint presentation by Google Cloud and Westinghouse will show how digital twins and predictive models accelerate the construction of advanced reactors.

The Electric Power Research Institute will also examine how emerging demand patterns affect generation planning.

DTECH 2026: Feb. 2-5 in San Diego, California

Utility technologies converge at DTECH (formerly Distributech), the leading transmission- and distribution-focused conference in the U.S. Organizers have reported that the 2026 event is expected to convene more than 20,000 professionals and 800 speakers across 275 sessions.

The 2026 program covers key topics such as transmission planning, load growth, interconnection needs, grid-enhancing technologies, microgrids, advanced metering infrastructure, DERs and DERMS, EV charging integration, grid-hardening and vegetation management, and grid-edge systems such as two-way power flow.

DTECH 2025 recap. Video used courtesy of Distributech

DTECH 2026 will feature major utilities such as Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric, Con Edison, Duke Energy, Oncor, and CPS Energy, with keynotes delivered by executives from Itron, PG&E, Zipline, and other large companies.

APEC 2026: March 22-26 in San Antonio, Texas

Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), now 41 years old, will be held at the same convention center as PowerGen, featuring hundreds of exhibitors, professional education seminars, industry panels, and plenary sessions. APEC typically draws over 5,000 participants across 50-plus countries each year.

APEC reports that around 280 companies have already signed up for the 2026 program. Technical areas of interest cover everything from high-voltage DC and flexible AC transmission systems to digital twin modeling to advanced magnetic materials.

Power Integrations at 2025 APEC. Image used courtesy of APEC

Power Integrations will bring 35 demonstrations of its PowiGaN devices and other converters and drivers, such as the 1700 V InnoMux‑2 GaN supply, the InnoSwitch5‑Pro IC family, and SCALE EV gate-driver boards for automotive traction inverters used in hybrid, electric, and fuel cell EVs.

Infineon will also return next year with its extensive silicon, SiC, and GaN lineup.

APEC attendees can expect a technically dense program with professional seminars on magnetics and EMI/EMV and grid technologies, DC/DC and AC-DC converters, advanced power control techniques, and high-efficiency voltage regulator modules for power-hungry AI GPUs in data centers.