Highlights from DISTRIBUTECH 2025

Energy industry is at a crossroads

Last week, I attended DISTRIBUTECH 2025 on behalf of Intertrust and wanted to share my experiences and what stood out for me at the show. The event brought together utility leaders, technology providers, regulators, and innovators from around the world to explore the technologies shaping our future grid. From the bustling show floor to deep technical sessions, the message was clear –  the energy transition is moving fast, and with it comes growing complexity, risk, and opportunity.

As utilities and operators work to decarbonize the grid and integrate more renewable resources, the foundational challenges of interoperability, security, and trust are becoming more visible than ever. The difficulties arising from interoperability, trust and secure data aren’t just technical hurdles—they’re systemic issues that impact everything in energy, from market flexibility and operational efficiency to customer trust and regulatory compliance.

“Interoperability, trust and secure data aren’t just technical hurdles—they’re systemic issues that impact everything in energy.” 

The realities of DER integration and the push for interoperability

One of the strongest themes throughout the event was the ongoing difficulty of integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) at scale. As DERs proliferate, utilities need to reclaim ownership of connections and shift toward open, standards-based architectures. 

Despite significant progress in the deployment of DERs like solar, storage, EVs, and flexible loads, utilities continue to wrestle with a fragmented device ecosystem. Many solutions still rely on insecure protocols or proprietary APIs, which not only increase operational complexity but also introduce new risks around data integrity and system control.

Equally concerning is that utilities have no direct access to their DER fleets. When third-party aggregators own the integration layer, it limits transparency, control, and flexibility. Across the show, there was strong consensus that utilities and grid operators need to reclaim ownership of their DER connections and move toward open, standards-based architectures that are secure, flexible, and scalable.

“As DERs proliferate, utilities need to reclaim ownership of connections and shift toward open, standards-based architectures.”

Cybersecurity was another major focus. Utilities face increasing threats across both IT and OT domains—from ransomware and phishing to supply chain attacks and infrastructure vulnerabilities. With DERs being deeply embedded in the grid, the attack surface has widened dramatically. There is a growing call for the industry to adopt zero trust principles and security-by-design approaches for all DER integrations, particularly as devices become more connected and data-dependent.

The role of AI, data, and trusted infrastructure

DISTRIBUTECH 2025 also underscored the urgency of modernizing utility infrastructure to support advanced analytics and AI applications. AI is only as smart as the data it ingests—trusted infrastructure is the prerequisite. AI models for forecasting, optimization, and anomaly detection are only as good as the data they rely on. Without trusted, high-quality data flowing across distributed systems, the risk of toxic data contaminating critical decisions becomes very real. This can lead to incorrect forecasts, grid instability, and missed opportunities to optimize flexible resources.

“AI is only as smart as the data it ingests—trusted infrastructure is the prerequisite.”

Hybrid cloud architectures and IoT-driven telemetry are helping utilities collect more data than ever before. But to make that data actionable, they need a unified, secure data foundation that spans both IT and OT. Several conversations and sessions highlighted the importance of bridging these traditionally siloed domains to enable real-time decision-making and unlock new forms of grid intelligence.

There is also a growing shift from proprietary data models and one-off integrations to more composable, modular platforms. Vendors and utilities alike are recognizing the need for interoperability not just at the device layer, but also across data models, applications, and security frameworks.

Intertrust at DISTRIBUTECH

Intertrust was honored to be recognized as a “Trendsetter” at DISTRIBUTECH 2025. Our mission is to enable trusted data exchange and secure interoperability for the energy industry, and it was energizing to see how many of our conversations resonated with what the industry is asking for: secure, standards-based solutions that enable real-time control, data transparency, and AI-driven intelligence.

Intertrust featured on the DISTRIBUTECH 2025 Trendsetter Wall alongside industry leaders driving the future of energy.

We showcased both our Trusted Energy Interoperability Architecture (TEIA) and Intertrust Connect solution suite. TEIA provides a framework for enabling secure, standards-aligned DER data exchange and identity management—a key enabler for the future of transactive energy and DER monetization. You can learn more about it at trusted-energy.org.

Meanwhile, Intertrust Connect continues to empower utilities, VPP operators, and energy innovators to integrate DERs at scale without the vendor lock-in, high costs, or limited access that plague many legacy solutions. Our zero-trust security, protocol-agnostic architecture, and real-time telemetry support were major points of interest during the show. You can read more about how we enable the full potential of DERs in this blog post.

As the energy transition accelerates, one thing is clear: trusted data, secure interoperability, and intelligent infrastructure are no longer optional—they’re foundational. We’re proud to be part of an ecosystem that’s helping reshape the grid for a more sustainable, resilient, and flexible future.

If you’re working on DER integration, digital operations, or grid security, we’d love to connect. Reach out to our team to explore how Intertrust can help you build a trusted energy future.