Utilities Are Warming to DERs. Thank Data Centers.
From Energy Changemakers Podcast by Energy Changemakers
April 1, 2026 · 33 min · Season 1 · Episode 42
About this episode
This episode discusses the shift in utilities' perspectives on distributed energy resources, driven by the demand from data centers.
For years, utilities and the distributed energy industry fought bitter battles over net metering, revenue erosion, and who controls the grid. Now, something has shifted. In this episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, host Elisa Wood sits down with Marco Krapels, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Enphase Energy, to explore a striking reversal: utilities that once viewed rooftop solar as a threat are now actively seeking out DER companies as partners. The catalyst? Data centers. The explosive growth of AI and digital infrastructure is driving electricity demand at a scale that centralized generation simply cannot meet fast enough — and utilities are starting to realize that 80 million untapped American rooftops may be part of the answer. Krapels brings both battle scars and optimism to this conversation. A former investment banker turned clean energy executive, he helped build SolarCity into the country's largest solar company and fought landmark net-metering wars in Nevada. Now, from Enphase — which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year — he describes a world where bundled, flexible distributed energy resources (solar + battery + bidirectional EV charger + smart home…
People in this episode
Host: Elisa Wood
Guest: Marco Krapels
Topics covered
- distributed energy resources
- utilities
- data centers
- solar energy
- electricity demand
- virtual power plants
Keywords
- distributed energy resources
- utilities
- data centers
- solar energy
- electricity demand
- virtual power plants
- AI
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Enphase Energy, SolarCity, AI, Nevada
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