024 - The Challenges of a Growing Energy Demand

We speak with Conrad Oakey, CEO of Novatech, about the structural challenges facing power systems as electricity demand accelerates across the United States and globally.

The conversation explores how rapid load growth — driven by data centers, electrification, and digital infrastructure — is colliding with grid constraints, legacy operational models, and slow-moving regulatory frameworks. Conrad explains why the issue is not simply one of generation capacity, but of coordination, visibility, and system intelligence across transmission, distribution, and operations.

A central theme of the discussion is the growing gap between how fast energy demand is evolving and how slowly grid infrastructure and utility processes can adapt.