Megaloads, EVs among hot topics at Electrify Indiana 2024

Depending on who you ask, the highlights of Electrify Indiana 2024 were megaloads, electric vehicles, food, music, vendors and networking.

 

And the next person might say the same thing.

 

That was certainly the case for many of the Hoosier Energy member cooperatives who attended the event. Each of them found one, two, three, four or even five notable things to take home from the bi-annual event at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.

 

It started with the utility leaders panel discussion, which featured Hoosier Energy CEO and President Donna Walker, and addressed the issue of megaloads head-on.

 

“When we were looking at load growth expectations (in the long-range resource plan), it was very different than what we’re seeing now,” Walker said. “We were thinking about what EVs would look like, but we didn’t see megaloads on the horizon.

 

“(What’s changed) is this new, unexpected change of megaloads that’s jumped up in the last 12 months. If those come to fruition, it could anywhere from double to quadruple the size of our system, and that takes a totally new way of approaching that.”

 

Those concerns resonated with Leslie Beard, CEO at WIN Energy.

 

“It was a great day with a lot of good information on data centers and what to think about going forward and what that might look like,” she said. “I think that’s one of the big takeaways is the information on these megaloads we’re starting to hear more about.”

 

And while those megaloads came up from time to time throughout the rest of the day, there were plenty of other topics to be discussed both during sessions and in-between.

 

MORE: Electrify Indiana 2024 overflowing with information

 

“It’s nice that the networking time is built-in so you can go around and talk to co-op people as well as people outside the co-op,” said Henry County REMC Project Coordinator Chelsi Jackson. “I talked to (NRECA’s) Jennah Denney, who I’ve heard before in five or six webinars. I got a chance to talk with her this time, as well as some other folks I’ve seen but don’t get to see often. It’s been really nice.”

 

Denney gave a presentation on the history of electrification via cooperatives and moderated one of the breakout sessions – Rural Roadmap with CoServ’s Stephen Meers and FlexCharging’s Brian Grunkemeyer.

 

“Everybody’s in a different spot on (electric vehicles),” Meers said. “That’s the amazing part. Depending on the size and demographics, every utility is in a slightly different spot.”

 

One of those utilities was Hoosier Energy member Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative, still in the nascent stages of measuring the impact of EV charging.

 

“This was our first time being here,” said Alyssa Parrott, Communications Specialist at Wayne-White. “Electrify exceeded my expectations because I didn’t really know what to expect. Being from Illinois, I wondered how much might apply with it being in Indiana, but it really did translate. There was a lot of good information.”

 

Not only was there a lot of information, but there were a lot of people with over 300 attendees representing over 120 companies, 48 sponsors and 44 tradeshow booths. All those people got a chance to interact with five networking breaks on top of breakfast and lunch.

 

“The food choices were spot on, and the longer lunchtime allowed more networking,” said Andy Sommers, Southern Indiana Power Manager of Member Services. “Our table had some great discussions.”

 

Beard agreed.

 

“I’ve been able to see a lot of people I haven’t seen for a while, which has been great,” she said. “I think the networking aspect of these types of events are the best part. We learn a lot of great things, but you learn even more being around other co-op people.”

 

That networking was set to continue long after Electrify Indiana 2024 came to an end.

 

“I’ve enjoyed getting to meet different people,” Parrott said. “I’ve got a lot of business cards that will help me with some different projects we’ve got coming up.”