Making Today’s Energy Work Better: Reflections from USEA’s State of the Energy Industry

On January 15, 2026, leaders from across the U.S. energy ecosystem convened at USEA’s State of the Energy Industry event with a shared recognition: electricity demand is accelerating faster than the nation’s ability to build new infrastructure.

AI and data centers, reshoring and advanced manufacturing, electrification, and energy storage are driving unprecedented load growth. At the same time, long permitting timelines, supply-chain bottlenecks, and aging grid assets constrain how quickly new generation and transmission can come online.

The conclusion was remarkably consistent across utilities, manufacturers, policymakers, and system operators: we must make the grid we already have work better: more efficiently, more reliably, and more affordably.

This imperative sits squarely at the heart of Peak Nano’s mission.

The State of the Energy Industry: Make Today’s Energy Work Better

Across panels spanning utilities, pipelines, nuclear, renewables, manufacturing, and policy, speakers returned again and again to the same reality: new generation and transmission are essential—but they take time. In the meantime, the grid must deliver more from existing assets while withstanding higher temperatures, more dynamic loads, and rising reliability expectations.

Efficiency Is the First Fuel

Paula Glover, President of the Alliance to Save Energy, captured this succinctly: “You want to get the most out of every single electron. You can’t build your way out of this. It’s about how we manage the demand we have.”

That imperative extends beyond software alone. Efficiency at scale depends on digital infrastructure, not just digital tools. Advanced analytics, automation, and demand response are essential, but they deliver their full value only when paired with hardware that can sense, control, and optimize power flows in real time.

Upgrading legacy switching, protection, and power-conversion equipment, moving toward more electronically controlled and software-defined systems, reduces losses, improves power quality, and unlocks latent capacity on existing infrastructure. These hardware-level efficiency gains create headroom without new wires or plants.

When load growth is this fast, every avoided loss, every deferred upgrade, and every increment of flexibility matters. Efficiency isn’t a side strategy. It’s the fastest, least-cost way to extend the grid we already have. 

Reliability Through Demand Shift

Utilities, both public power and IOUs, emphasized that reliability, safety, and affordability remain non-negotiable, even as loads from hyperscalers, EVs, and industrial electrification surge.

The Honorable Chris Wright, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, was firm, “If we can get energy storage better or cheaper, so that you can have meaningful capacity there at peak demand time. That’s productive for the grid.  All energy systems are different, but with electricity, it’s just about growing our capacity for peak demand. Everything else doesn’t matter.” He added, “The only thing that’s helpful in the electricity grid is if you can increase the supply of peak output… if you’re not reliably there to meet peak output, you’re just a parasite on the grid.” He further emphasized that grid solutions must measurably contribute to capacity and cost reduction, “We need anything that will productively add to the energy stack, meaning grow our capacity and lower our cost. It doesn’t matter to me the source, but the impact of the source matters to the world.” 

These remarks underscored a central theme of the day: technologies that improve peak performance, thermal margins, and power quality are essential to grid reliability.

Build Everything, and Fix the Bottlenecks 

There was strong alignment on the need for new generation and transmission, with broad alignment on the need for permitting reform, interconnection reform, and market structures that reward firm capacity and flexibility. But speakers were equally clear that upgrades to the existing system are unavoidable.

Rich Powell, CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association, highlighted both the scale of investment and the importance of enabling equipment, “We need an enormous amount of both new transmission and upgrades to the system we have today—and investments in all of the additional power electronics and gear that enables that system to deliver both the generation onto grids and then the consumption of that into our large load.” He also flagged a critical constraint, “We’re seeing shortages of many of the components of the power-electronics supply chain as well… transformers, circuit breakers… in many cases, five- to six-year wait times.”

These shortages reinforce why domestic manufacturing of advanced grid materials and components is now a reliability issue, not just a supply-chain preference.

It’s Really About The Supply Chain

Supply-chain fragility emerged as a unifying concern. From transformers to breakers to power-electronics components, multi-year backlogs are now the norm.

The challenge is no longer whether the technology exists; it’s whether the supply can be secured. Power infrastructure has become a globally contested resource, with the U.S. competing directly with China, India, and other fast-growing economies for the same constrained pool of equipment and components. Scale alone is not enough; access increasingly depends on who can outbid, pre-contract, or politically prioritize supply.

That dynamic carries real risk. When critical components are sourced primarily from overseas, exporting countries will, rationally, serve their domestic grid needs first.

As Rich Powell stated, “modernizing the grid requires rebuilding domestic manufacturing capacity for critical materials and components.”

Innovation and Resilience at the Grid Edge

Grid resilience, storage, and innovation were central to discussions about long-term system durability.

Sheri Givens, President & CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, captured that perspective,  “From a grid perspective, we’re thinking about how we’re going to ensure we have a resilient grid that continues indefinitely. And to do that, we need to ensure that we have all the resources and all the technologies and all the innovation.”

That innovation increasingly depends on power electronics and materials that can operate at higher temperatures, handle dynamic loads, and deliver long service life under stress.

Why Grid-Enhancing Technology Matters Now

With demand growth outpacing build timelines, utilities need technologies that can be deployed faster than new generation or transmission and that deliver measurable benefits by:

• Increasing capacity and efficiency on existing lines

• Improving power quality and voltage stability under dynamic loads

• Operating reliably at higher temperatures

• Enhancing energy-storage performance and durability

• Reducing dependence on fragile overseas supply chains

Advanced capacitor film, engineered in the U.S., is foundational to achieving these outcomes.

Where Advanced Capacitor Film Makes the Grid Work Better

High-performance capacitor film underpins capacitors used across the grid, including:

• Transmission and distribution systems. Shunt and series capacitors and STATCOM DC-links that reduce losses, stabilize voltage, and unlock additional headroom on existing infrastructure.

• Medium-voltage substations and industrial systems. Power-factor correction that improves efficiency and reduces thermal and electrical stress.

• Power electronics across the energy system. DC-link, filter, and snubber capacitors in inverters, drives, HVDC converters, and utility-scale battery energy storage systems.

• High-growth load centers. EV fast-charging infrastructure and data-center power conditioning, where reliability and thermal performance directly affect uptime and cost.

These technologies directly address the event’s core message: make today’s energy system work better before, and while, we build the next one.

How Peak Nano’s Nanoplex® Technology Enables Advanced Grid 

Peak Nano’s Nanoplex® advanced capacitor film technology supports the priorities articulated at USEA by delivering:

• Higher efficiency, lower losses. Reduced dissipation improves power-electronics efficiency and lowers system losses that utilities ultimately pay for.
• Higher-temperature operation. Engineered to perform reliably in elevated-temperature substations, converters, and energy-storage systems as thermal margins tighten.
• Longer life and improved reliability. Enhanced dielectric strength and self-healing reduce failures, maintenance, and downtime.
• Stronger energy-storage performance. Robust DC-link and filtering enable higher peak output, better stability, and improved durability in utility-scale BESS.
• A secured U.S. supply chain. Domestic production of advanced capacitor film helps shorten lead times and reduce exposure to global disruptions.

Conclusion

The message from USEA’s State of the Energy Industry event was unmistakable: the grid must deliver more—more efficiency, more reliability, and more peak capability—starting now.

U.S.-engineered advanced capacitor film is a practical, near-term lever to help utilities meet rising demand, improve storage and power-electronics performance, operate reliably at higher temperatures, and extend asset life—all while strengthening domestic supply chains.

Peak Nano is proud to partner with utilities, OEMs, and developers to help make today’s energy work better—and to build a more reliable, affordable grid for customers nationwide.