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Blog | Energy

The Energy Leader’s Guide to Data + AI Summit 2026

Data + AI Summit is back, and for energy and utilities leaders, this year’s event is shaping up to be one of the most relevant yet. With grid modernization, agentic AI, and the energy transition dominating every boardroom agenda, the world’s largest data and AI conference is dedicating serious real estate to the industry’s toughest challenges and most exciting breakthroughs.

Whether you’re optimizing upstream exploration, managing a complex grid at scale, or building the analytics backbone for a net-zero commitment, here’s your guide to making the most of June 15–18 at Moscone Center.

 

At a Glance

  • Event: Databricks Data + AI Summit 2026
  • Dates: June 15–18, 2026
  • Location: Moscone Center, 747 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
  • Format: In-person + virtual
  • Scale: 800+ sessions across data engineering, AI, governance, analytics, and industry-specific tracks

 

Why Energy Leaders Need to Be Here

The energy industry is in the middle of a data transformation unlike any other in its history. At this year’s Summit, Databricks is doubling down on three imperatives shaping the sector:

Enabling AI for Everyone in Energy — Democratizing AI across the entire organization, from field operations to the control room, without requiring deep technical expertise from every team.

Grid Modernization Powered by Real AI — Not theory, but production-grade AI actively running at leading utilities, covering grid reliability, outage prediction, renewable integration, and demand forecasting.

Learning from Energy Industry Leaders — Utility and energy pioneers who’ve scaled AI across generation, transmission, and distribution sharing clear roadmaps you can take back to your own operations.

 

How Lovelytics’ Energy Team Is Showing Up

We’re setting up camp at booth #421. Stop by to grab some swag, meet our experts, and see our Energy & Utilities “lytics” accelerators in action, including:

 

Energy & Utilities Power Hour

Join us for our Energy & Utilities Power Hour, an exclusive session designed for energy and utilities leaders looking to unlock the full potential of their data. You’ll hear directly from Cindy Hoffman, Director of Enterprise AI at Xcel Energy, as she shares how a data ontology framework and modern data platform helped deliver over $1B in total business impact.

You’ll walk away with real-world proof points and a clear picture of what’s possible for your organization. We’ll also give you a live look at our Dronelytics accelerator in action, including a hands-on use case for solar panel defect detection, so you can see how these solutions translate to immediate, measurable value in the field.

  • When: 11:00 AM–Noon (Tuesday, June 16)
  • Where: The Lovelytics Booth, #421

 

Meet Our Energy & Utilities Experts

Our team of E&U data and AI specialists will be on-site and ready to connect! Whether you want to schedule a dedicated strategy session, talk through your toughest data challenges, or get an honest look at which AI use cases are actually working (and which are not) in the energy and utilities industry right now.  Feel free to reach out to our dedicated energy and utilities onsite team directly!

 

The Main Event: Energy & Utilities Industry Forum

This is the marquee Energy & Utilities event of the week. Julien Debard, Databricks’ Global Head of Energy & Utilities GTM, will host senior leaders from some of the industry’s most forward-thinking organizations for an essential conversation on how data intelligence is enabling companies to navigate decarbonization, grid modernization, and the rise of distributed energy resources.

  • Where? Marriott Marquis | Wednesday, June  17 – 3:30-4:30PM PT
  • Register Here

 

Confirmed Forum Speakers

Speaker Title Company
Julien Debard Global Head of Energy & Utilities GTM Databricks
Shiv Trisal Global Industrials GTM Leader Databricks
Anne Marie Hensley General Manager, Digital Engineering Chevron Corporation
Jay Cavalcanto SVP & CIO Constellation
John OBrien Portfolio Manager Shell
Doug Way GM West Gas and Power Trading Shell
Brad Walker General Manager, Data and AI Alinta Energy

 

What the Forum Will Cover

  • Predictive asset management and operational resilience
  • Emissions monitoring, reporting, and ESG metrics
  • Energy trading and risk analytics
  • Renewable integration and demand forecasting
  • AI-powered approaches to decarbonization
  • Real-world case studies from wellhead to wall socket

Following the Forum: An Industry Networking Reception will give you the chance to connect with hundreds of energy and utilities peers.

 

How to Navigate the Full Agenda

With 800+ sessions, getting the most out of Summit requires some planning. A few recommendations:

  • Filter by industry. The Energy & Utilities track has 43 sessions. Use the filters on the agenda page to narrow by skill level, technology, and format.
  • Book your Forum seat early. The Industry Forum fills up,  register and add it to your schedule as soon as you’re registered for the event.
  • Plan around the Lounge. Block out 30–60 minutes across Expo Hall days to visit the Industry Lounge. The demos are genuinely useful, and the informal conversations with Databricks industry experts can be some of the most valuable of the week.
  • Connect with Julien Debard and the E&U team. As Databricks’ Global Head of Energy & Utilities GTM, Julien is the go-to for understanding the energy roadmap, industry partnerships, and what’s coming next on the platform. He’s most accessible around Forum and reception time.

 

Key Energy Breakout Sessions

The full Energy & Utilities track spans 43 sessions. Here are the ones we think deserve a spot on your calendar,  with more to come as the schedule is confirmed:

 

Alinta Energy’s Data Platform: From Platform Migration to Enterprise Ready AI-Driven Energy Ops

TLDR: A pragmatic roadmap session for tech teams and business leaders alike.

  • Speaker: Brad Walker, General Manager Data and AI at Alinta
  • Track: Data Strategy
  • Level: Intermediate 
  • Technologies: Databricks SQL, Lakeflow, Unity Catalog
  • Register Here

Alinta Energy unified 90+ systems and 2,400 data objects onto a single Databricks platform, now powering 36,000+ daily queries with an automated, governed release pattern. Brad Walker walks through how this foundation drives AI-powered energy demand forecasting, agentic workflows for pricing and finance, and enterprise-wide analytics across generation, trading, and retail, including a “Pilot for Teams” model for scalable production rollout.

Unifying Upstream Intelligence with Generative AI

TLDR: A must-see for O&G leaders grappling with unstructured data and agentic AI potential. 

  • Speakers: Prashant Singh, Sr. Solutions Architect at Databricks and Musreen Azwan B Mustafa, Senior Manager, Surface Engineering Data at PETRONAS 
  • Track: AI & Agents 
  • Level: Intermediate 
  • Technologies: AI/BI, Unity Catalog, Agent Bricks
  • Register Here

PETRONAS faced a challenge familiar across upstream oil and gas: 90% of their data is unstructured, scattered across OSDU, PI, SQL systems, and more — leaving engineers spending 3-5 days just finding data. Their solution, PetroWizard & IntelliSense, uses an agent-based GenAI architecture on Databricks with a Central Orchestrator and four specialized agents (Subsurface, Surface, Sensor, Model Router). The result: data discovery time dropped to 30-45 seconds, query accuracy hit 90%+, and more than 3,000 users are now actively using the system.

 

Scaling Energy Deal Evaluation With Databricks Lakebase

TLDR: Relevant for energy finance, trading, and deal-making teams exploring Lakebase.

  • Speaker: Ian Brown, Head of Engineering at Quantum Capital Group 
  • Track: Lakebase 
  • Level: Intermediate 
  • Technologies: Unity Catalog, Databricks Apps, Lakebase
  • Register Here

Quantum Capital Group screens hundreds of energy investment opportunities annually, backed by 1.5 billion+ records across public, premium, and proprietary datasets. This session shows how Quantum extended its Lakehouse with Lakebase to introduce relational structure for human-led diligence — helping engineering and investment teams evaluate complex energy deals with greater speed and confidence.

 

The Industry Lounge: Demos on the Expo Floor

Running Tuesday through Thursday during Expo Hall hours, the Energy & Utilities Industry Lounge on the Expo floor is where you can get hands-on with the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform for Energy. Industry experts will walk you through demos and solution accelerators, with use cases including:

  • Predictive maintenance and pipeline health monitoring
  • Grid modernization and real-time reliability
  • Energy demand forecasting with ML
  • Decarbonization and ESG tracking solutions

This is a great spot to have peer conversations in a lower-pressure environment than the formal sessions.

 

See You There!

Data + AI Summit 2026 serves as a pivotal opportunity for energy leaders looking to navigate grid modernization, agentic AI, and the sector’s rapid data transformation. We hope this guide helps you maximize your time at the Moscone Center. 

Don’t forget to visit the Lovelytics team at booth #421 to experience our custom industry accelerators firsthand and connect with specialists who can help turn these insights into immediate field value.

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