ETS27 · free your mind
energy thought summit 2027 · austin, texas · may 3 to 6, 2027
Join us for the 14th Energy Thought Summit (ETS) as our flagship event returns to Austin, Texas, May 3-6, 2027. Free Your Mind. The future doesn't belong to those who move the fastest, it belongs to those who create the space to think differently.
the editions
the energy thought summit
since 2014 · the fourteenth, in Austin
free your mind
The theme for 2027 is Free Your Mind: the future doesn't belong to those who move the fastest, it belongs to those who create the space to think differently. The Energy Thought Summit is Zpryme's flagship gathering for the people who run and remake the energy system: four days in Austin of panels with utility executives, ETS Talks (short presentations) and fireside chats (one to one interviews).
It is built for utility and energy-industry leaders: past editions brought C-level executives from across the globe, the subject experts on the panels and a limited number of tabletop booths.
who makes it
Zpryme: Austin-based research-led firm producing research, events and branding experiences for the energy sector.
who made ets26 possible
The ETS26 partners, by tier: a sample until ETS27's partners are announced.
- Platinum Avertra, SEW
- Vanguard NVIDIA and Oracle
- Trident Kraken
- Gold Bridgewater Consulting Group, ELM MicroGrid, Landis+Gyr, Esri, DNV, Honeywell, Bidgely, SAP, Envelio, Integral Analytics
- Silver LCRA, Sendero, Anterix, Skydio, SBS, National Grid Ventures, Motive Power and NPUC, Google Cloud
- Bronze OCI Energy, Aggreko, CPS Energy, Austin Energy, Engineered Intelligence, RWE, EDO, EDMI, Bloom, Locusview, Gridsight, UtilityAPI, Base Power, Doer/Maker, Vision, DataCapable, Itron
continued · fourteen summits, a few answers
fourteen summits
- 2014Paramount Theatre, Austin · the first summit
- 2015Austin · March 2015
- 2016Paramount Theatre, Austin · March 29 to 31
- 2017Design for Energy · March 27 to 30
- 2018To the moon · March 26 to 29
- 2019Love your energy · April 15 to 18
- 2020the virtual summit · September 2020
- 2021the virtual summit · September 2021
- 2022Power up · April 10 to 14
- 2023Keep Earth Weird · Hotel ZaZa, Austin · April 3 to 6 · the tenth summit
- 2024Imagine · Austin · April 15 to 18
- 2025Ethos · Boeing Tech Center, San Antonio · May 19 to 22
- 2026Hack the planet · Boeing Center at Tech Port, San Antonio · April 27 to 30
- 2027Free Your Mind · Austin · May 3 to 6, 2027 · the fourteenth
a few answers
what does it cost?
Register through Eventbrite. There are two ticket categories, Industry and Government & Utility, each with an early phase and a later phase. Early phase (sales end Nov 19, 2026): Industry $907.78 and Government & Utility $320.89 including Eventbrite fees. Later phase (starts Nov 19-20, 2026): Industry $1,227.91 and Government & Utility $374.25 including fees. Tickets are non-refundable.
how do i speak, sponsor or volunteer?
Use the contact form on the ETS site (subjects include Speak, Nominate Thought Leader, Sponsor and Attend), email ets@zpryme.com, or call +1 888-908-2522. Partners are listed in tiers (Platinum, Vanguard, Trident, Gold, Silver, Bronze). For ETS26, speaker proposals went through a Whova call for proposals; the ETS27 process has not been announced.
monday, may 3 · 13 sessions
sample program: the ETS26 sessions on the ETS27 dates, to be confirmed
circle a session or tick its box to pick it · tab to a box, space picks it
- 08:15 to 17:00Registration Opens
- 09:15 to 09:25ETS Opening & Special Video Remarks w/ Rudy GarzaRudy Garza
- 09:25 to 09:35How to Hack Your Experience at ETS27Hugh Forrest
- 09:35 to 09:45Premier: MLK Community Center Microgrid Story
- 10:30 to 11:15The Policy Singularity: When Innovation Outpaces RegulationJason Ryan, Rebecca Klein, Chris Guttman-McCabe, Jason Rodriguez
- 11:15 to 12:00Megawatt Reckoning: Hacking the Data Center Load CurveJonathan Tijerina, Tim Pianta, Gerardo Delgado, Denise Owusu (moderator)
- 12:00 to 13:00Networking Lunch
- 13:00 to 13:15The Engagement Hack: Making Grid Optimization a Customer GameChimaobi Chijioke
- 13:45 to 14:15The CXth Sense: JodyBot, the Digital Twin for Customer OperationsBashir Bseirani, Jody Allison, Vanessa Edmonds
- 14:15 to 15:00Beyond the Firewall: Securing a Million New Grid Edge Entry PointsTodd Wiedman, Mitch Rappard, John Miri, Janie Gonzalez, Greg Brown
- 15:00 to 15:30Networking Break
- 15:30 to 16:15The New Energy Trilemma: Customer Affordability, Wildfires, and the AI Power SurgeGerardo Delgado, Zach Pollock, Cody ONeil, Brad Smith, Kimberly Britton (moderator)
- 19:00 to 21:00ETS27 Opening Networking Reception
tuesday, may 4 · 15 sessions
sample program: the ETS26 sessions on the ETS27 dates, to be confirmed
circle a session or tick its box to pick it · tab to a box, space picks it
- 08:15 to 09:00Networking Breakfast
- 09:00 to 09:15Leadership Perspective: Service, Innovation, and Customer Affordability in the New Energy EraNancy Bui-Thompson, Jason Rodriguez (moderator)
- 10:00 to 10:15The Efficient Frontier: Where AI Meets Customer-Centric AffordabilityTalvis Love
- 10:30 to 11:15The Edge is the New Core: Why the Grid's Future is DistributedDeeAnne Norris, Jen Szaro, Deepak Garg, Paul Lau, Marc Spieler
- 11:50 to 12:20AI Won’t Fix Your Data Problem — But Your Data Problem Will Kill Your AI StrategyCarlos Thomas, Anand Vedapuri
- 12:20 to 13:30Networking Lunch
- 13:30 to 14:15Breakout A: From Firewalls to Frequency: Operationalizing Security at the Grid EdgeGreg Brown, Richard A Ramirez, Erin Autin (moderator)
- 13:30 to 14:15Breakout B: Rate Design Reimagined: Hacking Economics for Grid InvestmentSam Chang, Bashir Bseirani, Damali Harding, Joyce Deuley (moderator)
- 14:15 to 15:00Breakout F: Emotion Meets Electron: Designing Energy Experiences That StickAmy Atchley, Angie Ostaszewski, Ricky Murray (moderator)
- 15:00 to 15:30Networking Break
- 15:30 to 15:45How AI is Rewiring the Utility MindsetTolu Omotoso
- 15:45 to 16:00Innovation, Workforce, and Quantum Grid ApplicationsJanet Rehberg
- 16:00 to 16:45AI, Meet AMI: The Real-Time Brain for the Modern GridJulia Zhu, Dan Schnitzer, Kevin Monagle, Evan O'Mahoney, Joyce Deuley
- 16:45 to 17:15Power Play: How Google and AES are Disrupting the Energy and Intelligence Status QuoRaiford Smith, Jason Rodriguez (moderator), Chad Horton (moderator)
- 18:30 to 20:00Day 2 Networking Reception
wednesday, may 5 · 13 sessions
sample program: the ETS26 sessions on the ETS27 dates, to be confirmed
circle a session or tick its box to pick it · tab to a box, space picks it
- 08:15 to 08:55Networking Breakfast
- 08:55 to 09:10Hack the Outage: Grid Down. Customer First. How the Energy Industry is Rewriting the Rules of Outage IntelligenceJason Ryan, Zac Canders, Bill Potter, Bob Flaherty
- 09:15 to 09:30Hacking the Bottleneck: How AI Returns Attention to the Experts Who MatterAbhishek Balakrishnan
- 09:30 to 09:45Power Hungry: A Day in the AI Powered world of 2040Jeff Jerome
- 10:00 to 10:30Trusted AI for Your RealityKarthik Moorthy, John Kupcinski
- 11:00 to 11:30Hacking the Distribution UtilityJohn Padalino, Carlos Ayala, Teresa Ringenbach
- 11:30 to 12:00Who Wins the Race: AI Speed or Grid Stability?Jeffrey Banks, Matt Rettagliata, Vanessa Edmonds
- 12:30 to 13:30Networking Lunch
- 13:30 to 14:15Breakout G: The Next Era of DSM: From Short-Term Savings to Long-Term ChangeQuinn Parker
- 15:00 to 15:25Networking Break
- 15:35 to 16:20Conducting the Grand Symphony: Sustainability, Reliability, and AffordabilityLora Anguay, Mandip Samra, Navin Kumar Prasannam, Erin Autin (moderator)
- 16:20 to 17:05Grid Games: How AI is Both the Defender and the InvaderJohn Kupcinski, Jeffrey Banks, Josh Keeling, John Miri, Joyce Deuley (moderator)
- 18:30 to 20:00Closing Day 3 Networking Reception
thursday, may 6 · 9 sessions
sample program: the ETS26 sessions on the ETS27 dates, to be confirmed
circle a session or tick its box to pick it · tab to a box, space picks it
- 08:30 to 09:30Breakfast & Networking
- 09:15 to 09:30Supergrid Rising: Can Energy Storage Save the Planet?Joon Lee
- 09:30 to 09:45The Trust Hack: You Can Pilot Without It, But You Can’t Scale Without ItEvan O'Mahoney, Janie Gonzalez
- 09:45 to 10:00The Software-Defined Power GridAndres Carvallo
- 10:00 to 10:45Unlocking Capacity in an Age of ExtremesElaina Ball, Christina Oliver, Venkat Tirupati, Sabah Bayatli, Seyi Fabode (moderator)
- 10:45 to 11:30Future Forward: Re-Examining Sustainable Resilience in the Era of AIDanny Petrecca, Tasha McCarter, Jeremy Adelman, Jason Rodriguez (moderator)
- 11:30 to 12:15Hack the Customer: Real Stories and Real Impact from Utilities at the Forefront of Addressing the Affordability ChallengeCarlos Ayala, KJ Feder, Christine Miles (moderator)
- 12:15 to 12:25Closing Session: ETS27 Ultimate Hacks
- 12:25 to 12:30Event Close
speakers · 77 people, a to z
the ETS26 speakers stand in until the ETS27 lineup is announced
drawn in marker from each speaker's own photograph: hover or tap a face for the photograph, press a name for more, hold a face to move it, ring a face to follow them in your agenda.
continued · Garza to Owusu
continued · Padalino to Zhu
austin, texas · may 3 to 6, 2027
where the fourteenth summit happens
venue to be announced
getting there
To be announced with the venue.
Hotel block and travel details will be announced with the venue. Until then, ETS asks everyone to come by public transport (Cap Metro Austin), rideshare, e-bike, e-scooter or on foot where they can.
where to stay
A placeholder until the hotel block is announced.
The ETS27 hotel block has not been announced. For ETS26 in San Antonio, Zpryme held a room block at the Westin, opened overflow rooms next door at Hotel Contessa and ran a shuttle to the venue; expect a similar arrangement in Austin.
Eventbrite pins the listing at 713 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78701 without naming a venue, so treat that address as unconfirmed.
ETS26 was at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Dr, San Antonio, TX 78226, April 27 to 30, 2026.
Ask the mind how to get therethe venue page on energythoughtsummit.com
two classes, two phases
on sale on Eventbrite · prices include the fees
Two classes, each in two phases. Phase one runs until November 19, 2026; phase two after that.
Industry
phase one · until November 19, 2026
$907.78
then $1,227.91 in phase two
Government & Utility
phase one · until November 19, 2026
$320.89
then $374.25 in phase two
Prices include Eventbrite's fees. Tickets are non-refundable.
As listed on Eventbrite on October 13, 2026; to be verified before launch. Not published yet: what a ticket includes, group codes, student, speaker or press rates, and whether tickets transfer.
through the years
the summits since 2014 in 107 photographs, standing in a deck: drag it, scroll it or use the arrow keys; a click or a tap lays a photograph on the paper
the deck runs newest first: 2027 is the next one, 2026 and 2025 wait for their photographs, 2021 and 2020 were virtual, 2014 was the first, at the Paramount
the question line, from anywhere
ask about the summit, or let it show you what it can do
or ask me what i can do
quite a lot. here's the short list:
- find speakers and sessions
- help plan your days
- make an agenda from what you circle
- show only your picks
- put them in your calendar
- explain tickets and getting there
- wander through the years
- add to your drawing
- remember where you left off
- share your paper
a few other things i'd rather you find.
i'll answer in the build round.
the pages work today.
On this preview the mind answers from the site's own pages: the program, the speakers, tickets, the venue, the years.
ask me anything about the summit.
i'm resting for today.
the pages and the pen still work.
press / anywhere, or the little "ask me" at the bottom right, and the question line follows you to any page.
your poster
keep it, share it, take it home
take your poster home
This device keeps your poster as you make it: what you draw on every sheet and what the mind adds, the sessions you circle, where you leave the things you move, the pen in your hand and the sheet you were on. The link below carries all of it to any other device.
This device is not keeping your poster (a private window, perhaps, or storage that is full or switched off), so it goes when you close the page. Save the link below: it carries your drawings, circles and moves to any device.
This is a copy of a poster someone shared with you. Look around freely; the moment you draw, circle or move something it becomes your own, kept on this device, and theirs stays as it was.
Opens your poster laid out on one page, with your drawings and picks: print it, or save it as a PDF.
the pdf isn't ready on this page; save a sheet as a picture meanwhile
The link carries your drawings and picks; whoever opens it gets a copy of their own.
Copy it, send it to yourself, or email it; it opens your poster on any device.
your drawings
Nothing drawn yet. The pen works on every sheet of the poster.
kept aside from an earlier poster
These were drawn on an earlier layout of the poster, so they are not shown on today's sheets, where they would sit on the wrong lines. Bring one back and it lands exactly where it was drawn, which may no longer line up.
your picks
No sessions circled yet: circle what interests you in the agenda and they gather here.
A real .ics file for your calendar app (the sample program, marked as such).
we could print your poster and mail it to you
one day. for now, the pdf above prints at any size
For Zpryme, the words for a later lane (nothing is built, asked or sent from this page): the visitor's whole poster, with their drawings and picks, rendered to a print-ready PDF at a fixed size, sent to a print-on-demand partner and mailed to an address they type once; no account, the order keyed to their journey link; whether it is free, paid or a conference keepsake is Zpryme's call.
Clears every drawing, pick and arrangement on this device, after asking once.