University of St. Thomas Microgrid Center Director: Why Microgrids Matter in the AI Era

University of St. Thomas is a historic private research university in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota which dates to the late 19th century.

In modern times, the university has become known nationwide for its energy research division focused around microgrids. The director of St. Thomas’ Center for Microgrid Research, Mahmoud Kabalan, is leading a current expansion of the campus microgrid work including new construction on a research center (pictured at top) led by Ryan Companies and including multiple generator sets delivered by Cummins Inc.

Kabalan also has participated in national collaborations around the microgrid sector, including terms spent as an advisory board member for the Microgrid Knowledge Conference. He was quoted recently in an article of StateTech Magazine focused on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), on-site power and distributed energy solutions.

Evidence is mounting that the 20th century utility grid is unprepared for the load and transmission challenges ahead with the rise of AI, cloud-based computing, industrial automation and multi-sector electrification. Microgrids offer a value proposition to provide resiliency at the grid’s edge.

Kabalan and colleagues from other energy research institutions, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (now renamed National Laboratory of the Rockies by the Trump Administration) and CDW, touted the future and potential benefits of building microgrids for commercial, industrial and mission-critical customers.

Microgrids can power AI’s very particular and highly consumptive energy needs and, in turn, be empowered and made more efficient by AI-enabled technologies. This includes hands-on research and operational work at the University of St. Thomas Center for Microgrid Research.

“We are educating the engineers that we need to run the grid of the 21st century,” Kabalan told StateTech. “We’re going to cover that in the textbook, and guess what? We’re going to go down to the basement and check out how this equipment actually works in real life. It provides a very unique, hands-on, real-world experience for our students.”

Click here to read the full StateTech article on the intersection of microgrids and AI-enabled data center energy efficiencies.

The Microgrid Knowledge Conference 2026 will be May 4-6 at Renaissance SeaWorld in Orlando. Early bird registration is now open.