Powering the next era: our biggest takeaways from Wood Mackenzie’s Solar & Energy Storage Summit 2026

Wood Mackenzie recently hosted its 19th annual Solar & Energy Storage Summit in Denver, Colorado, bringing together more than 400 executives and thought leaders to discuss the challenges, opportunities and uncertainty facing the solar and storage industries. The summit also marked the launch of a new agenda item, the North American Power & Renewables Forum, examining the wider energy mix, load growth and the integration of renewables into the grid. 

At a time when unprecedented investment opportunity is colliding with extraordinary policy, market and technological uncertainty, the event spanned diverse topics, from how to meet surging data-centre power demand to scaling up distributed energy resources through virtual power plants. Urgent capacity needs took centre stage, alongside complex affordability challenges, supply-chain constraints and evolving regulatory frameworks. 

Fill in the form to discover our analysts’ key takeaways from the event, as well as the views of key industry insiders, and read on for a taster. 

Transmission emerges as the industry’s biggest constraint 

Transmission infrastructure has emerged as the primary constraint on project deployment. Ageing grid systems built for stable demand patterns now face mounting pressure from demand growth, renewables integration, coal and gas plant retirements, and extreme weather events.  

Interconnection reform initiatives have led to meaningful progress, but simultaneously shown that queue optimisation has displaced rather than eliminated development bottlenecks. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 2023's enhanced financial commitment requirements and milestone-based advancement criteria have improved project quality substantially by reducing speculative queue positions. 

However, data from the US Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) indicate that 70 GW of executed interconnection agreements remain unconstructed, with an additional 40 GW experiencing delays attributable to permitting and financing constraints rather than interconnection queue processing. 

This has necessitated a fundamental shift from reactive grid management to proactive, scenario-based planning with increased transparency for developers. Without accelerated transmission expansion, coordinated regional planning and clearer long‑term build signals, renewable deployment will continue to stall at scale, regardless of queue reforms. 

Automation reshapes solar project delivery 

Robotics could reshape solar project economics, with major implications for time-crunched projects and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bottlenecks. Long viewed as supplemental devices, several forms of robot are now reaching commercial-scale deployment, including autonomous machines. 

Industry participants say the near-term rate of robotic adoption will largely be down to EPC partners. US solar projects have strict deadlines between 2027 and 2030 to earn their 30% tax credit. It is difficult for EPCs to justify risky investments in robotics that have only been used for smaller projects or portions of projects to date. Amid excessive risk of delays and contract renegotiation, robots will not be overwhelmingly adopted during the final years of safe harbouring. 

At the same time, however, several factors make autonomous robotics as appealing as ever: heatwaves are sidelining workers at increasing rates, hourly labour rates are rising and Tier 1 EPCs are choosing data-centre/gas projects over solar, limiting the availability of skilled labourers. In practice, the integration of human labour with robots will be a slow process. The most repetitive and strenuous tasks will be replaced first, but the maximum value will come when equipment and processes are redesigned around AI-driven autonomous robotics. 

Read the rest of our Solar and Energy Storage Summit 2026 takeaways 

To find out more about what our analysts and some of our summit participants have to say on these and other key topics, fill in the form at the top of the page.