We are two weeks away from INFOCUS 2026, and our team at PCI looks forward to meeting our customers there.Â
The energy landscape is evolving at a faster pace than ever before. Markets are expanding and adapting rapidly, new capacity is being built, and the grid is facing unprecedented demand driven by the exponential growth of AI data centers.Â
As physical resources — both generation capacity and transmission — become increasingly constrained, digital efficiency has become our ultimate currency. Navigating this new era of power requires more than just adapting to change; it requires profound connection — between systems, between teams, and between technology and human expertise.Â
For our upcoming customer conference, this is the driving force behind the theme, Synergy in Action.Â
As the grid becomes more dynamic and interconnected, the most successful organizations will be those who harness the power of synergy.Â
April 14–16, you are invited to join us in the historic port city of Charleston, South Carolina. Leaders across utilities, IPPs, public power, and energy marketers will gather to experience how aligning people, data, and advanced software creates operational results far greater than the sum of their parts.Â
Here is a look at what our team has designed for you at INFOCUS 2026.Â
Platform synergy: a unified system for the gridÂ
Trading, optimization, forecasting, transmission, and settlements can no longer exist in isolated silos or point solutions. At INFOCUS, we will showcase the evolution of the PCI platform into a single, integrated enterprise ecosystem. To ensure you can dive deep into the areas most relevant to your operations, we have designed dedicated program tracks for our five core product lines: Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM), Bid-to-Bill, Portfolio Optimization, Transmission, and Outage Management.Â
You will get an exclusive look at the success of our evergreen dual-platform strategy, combining the reliability of PCI’s core transactional engine with the elastic scalability of PCI Kube, our cloud-native technology platform. The adoption of PCI’s upgraded architecture has accelerated, with many of you already leveraging its modernized components. This year, you won’t just hear about our roadmap; you will see multiple customer presentations showcasing real-world deployments of our newest products running natively on this upgraded, modern cloud platform — delivering fast speed and scalability directly to your operations floors.Â
Human + AI synergy: the next phase of operationsÂ
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The industry is shifting toward humans assisted by AI. INFOCUS 2026 will provide a practical look at how Agentic AI assistants are supporting real workflows today — from load forecasting to automated bid generation and battery trading.Â
For over 30 years, PCI has proudly served as the industry’s trusted System of Record, the place where many of you perform your business-critical operations in wholesale energy trading. Because wholesale power requires strict, deterministic outcomes rather than probabilistic guesses, AI agents require a transaction-safe, regulated platform to function. By evolving PCI from a System of Record into a System of Context, we are building the indispensable “chassis” that provides the deterministic guardrails for AI to operate safely.Â
To make this possible, we are putting a major emphasis on building an AI-ready foundation. At the conference, we will dive deep into PCI Insights, exploring how our modern data lakehouse is ingesting massive, fragmented streams of data and transforming them into a clean, unified semantic layer. This System of Context is the essential, AI-ready foundation you need for true cross-market decision-making and end-to-end workflow continuity. Our future relies on a combination of AI agents navigating clear deterministic gates, supported by user interfaces that evolve from complex screens to intent-driven, conversational dashboards.Â
Because innovation must never compromise security, we are bringing in outside industry experts for the first time. Leaders from AWS and KirkpatrickPrice will join our technology experts on stage to discuss digital architecture, AI governance, and best practices for implementing FISMA and NIST standards in the cloud.Â
Community synergy: learning & building togetherÂ
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INFOCUS is, above all, a gathering of the PCI customer community. Your peers play a critical role in shaping the future of our platform, and this year’s agenda elevates those voices more than ever.Â
We are honored to welcome three distinguished keynote speakers who bring the concept of Synergy in Action to life through their leadership and experience. Mike Finissi, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer of Santee Cooper, will deliver our opening keynote, offering an operations‑focused perspective from one of the largest public power providers in the Southeast. He is joined by Brad Underwood, Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Omaha Public Power District, who will share insight into how financial strategy, planning, and systems transformation come together to support modern utility operations. Rounding out our keynote lineup is Don McDonnell, Global Partner Leader for Energy and Utilities at Amazon Web Services, who brings a technology and innovation lens shaped by decades of experience guiding utilities through digital transformation and grid modernization.Â
Throughout the week, you will hear directly from organizations navigating the front lines of the energy transition. I am incredibly proud of the lineup of customer-led sessions and real-world case studies we have on the agenda, featuring insights from CLECO, Colorado Springs Utilities, Consumers Energy, OUC, PNM, PSE, Orsted, Intermountain Power Service Corporation (IPSC), EDF, Clearway, Associated Electric, Pattern, and APS. In addition, we will feature a dedicated RTO panel session including leadership from SPP Markets+ and CAISO.Â
Look forward to seeing you in CharlestonÂ
Beyond the breakout sessions, INFOCUS 2026 offers great opportunities for genuine relationship-building. From our official training sessions the first morning of the conference on April 14 to our networking reception at the beautiful Francis Marion Hotel, you will have the chance to share insights, spark new ideas, and connect with both your peers and our product experts.Â
We look forward to seeing you in Charleston and building that future together.Â
