Connect | Virginia // DCD Talks what it takes to plug AI into the grid with Adam Kabulski and Dax Kepshire | On.Energy

This summer, gigawatts of data center load dropped off the grid in Northern Virginia at once. Nothing failed. The UPSs did exactly what they were designed to do. That’s the problem. At gigawatt scale, the systems that protect AI campuses can threaten the grid they depend on, and grid operators have noticed. ERCOT now requires large loads to ride through disturbances before they connect.

In this fireside chat, Dax Kepshire (ON.energy) and Adam Kabulski (EPC Power) talk about what they’ve learned deploying 3 GW of grid-safe power across hyperscale campuses. They’ll cover why the “UPS” needs rethinking, what utilities now expect from large loads, and how moving power conversion outdoors helped one customer triple its building size. They’ll also explain why the next wave of AI capacity will go to operators whose sites are a benefit to the grid, not a liability.