Powering the AI Decade

​Powering the AI Decade
Thursday, October 15, 2026 | 1850 Towers Crescent Plaza, Tysons, VA

​About the event
Powering the AI Decade is an invitation-only, nonpartisan half-day policy forum. It brings together policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, investors, and experts to examine the infrastructure, energy, and policy decisions shaping America's AI future. Organized by Knowledge Networks (Regulating AI) and The American Bazaar, it focuses on who pays for the grid, who grants permission to build, and how the build-out gets financed. It is timed to the run-up to the 2027 legislative sessions.

​Agenda and speakers

​Panel 1, The Builders: What It Actually Takes to Get Built (11:55 AM)
Operators building at frontier scale discuss power availability, water access, siting constraints and community terms, and what would speed up delivery.
Nancy Novak (Compass Datacenters), Ceren Susut (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Grid Controls and Security), Jordan Crenshaw (Senior Vice President at U.S. Chamber of Commerce)

​Panel 2, Who Pays for the Grid (12:35 PM)
Regulators, utilities and analysts examine who pays for the power new data centers require, covering large-load tariffs, cost allocation and the interconnection queue.
Ted Trabue (DC Public Service Commission), Stephen D. Haner (Thomas Jefferson Institute), Michael Giberson (R Street Institute), Andrew Major (Virginia SCC)

​Panel 3, Permission to Build: Federal, State and Local (1:15 PM)
Lawmakers look at who decides where America builds, covering permitting jurisdiction, federal preemption, measurement standards and incentives.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, Rep. James Walkinshaw, Sen. Kannan Srinivasan, Rep. Jon Porter

​Panel 4, Financing the Build: Capital, Funding and Policy Risk (2:10 PM)
Investors explain how permitting delays, tariff uncertainty and community opposition get priced into underwriting, and what would unlock faster investment.
Del. JJ Singh, Barbara Gutierrez (Aon), Rachel Rosenfeld (Senior Counsel)

​Signature Session, AI on the Ballot: What the Public Is Telling Washington (2:45 PM)
County leaders and researchers look at what drives local sentiment, why some projects clear approval while others stall, and what it means heading into 2027.
Supervisor Michael R. Turner, Supervisor Laura A. TeKrony, Jessica Mason (Embold Research), Del. John McAulif, Del. Irene Shin