Kevin Clark Shares Post-POWERGEN Conference Insights, Industry Microtrends
Kevin Clark of Clarion Events says, "Power generation is having its day ... again," with data centers, onshoring manufacturing, and electrification beefing up demand.
With POWERGEN 2025 concluding last week in Dallas, Turbomachinery International caught up with Kevin Clark, Senior Content Director at Clarion Events, to glean more insights into the show’s performance and post-pandemic growth, hot industry topics, and what’s coming down the pipeline for next year. He said POWERGEN 2025 saw a resurgence in traditional power generation topics, specifically for gas turbines.
TURBO: What are you most excited about in the industry?
Clark: You can say that power generation is having its day again. After a couple decades of flat demand, we’re seeing utilities beef up their projections in response to increased demand from data centers, onshoring from manufacturing, and increased electrification. There’s still a mission to decarbonize, but the wrinkle is maintaining reliability.
There’s a lot of interest in gas turbines for flexibility, as well as continued renewables growth. Utilities and industrials are exploring the prospect of nuclear energy through reviving previously retired plants or building smaller, modular ones. There are many micro-trends in the space and it’s a really exciting time.
TURBO: What is planned for POWERGEN 2026? Will there be a new theme?
Clark: We’re looking forward to hearing feedback from exhibitors and attendees following the show—we already had a lot of great feedback onsite. We’ll continue to focus on end-user content and bringing that to the floor. We’re also bringing along our HYDROVISION audience, so I’ll expect to see more of those attendees and exhibitors. We’ll also be back in Texas, which is a great setting for all the developments happening in the industry.
Hear more from Clark in our conference overview.
