QuickChat | Reshaping the Future: A Conversation About the Evolution of Data Centers, Healthcare, BESS, Microgrids and More
In this quickchat video, Dinesh Balaji Ramaraj - business development and marketing manager with Cummins Inc – talks about what is happening today with on-site power for healthcare and transportation.
Ramaraj also discusses the AI and data capacity race and tells Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor, Rod Walton, about how Cummins is advancing and adapting its power generation technology to meet those demands. A very critical growth sector for demand is coming from the healthcare and transportation industries, particularly airports.
Customers are in the early stages of a massive shift from simply seeking backup power to gaining energy resiliency closer to their demand centers. Ramaraj reveals how industries are driving change, how microgrids can evolve and where battery storage innovation contributes to the future mix.
Watch the full interview to learn more!
Timestamps:
-
0:00 – Intro
-
1:20 - What’s happening with on-site power for healthcare and transportation hubs and why is it so critical right now?
-
3:22 - What in hospitals and airports particularly are in immediate need for a microgrid-type solution and why now?
-
5:18 - We must stay ahead in the AI and data capacity race, what do you and Cummins think about the best way to ensure that?
-
7:38 - How do gen-sets and battery storage complement each other with a microgrid set up?
-
9:26 - Compared to the old days, what has Cummins done to help with balance those two resources?
-
12:42 - How do microgrids and your company’s solutions help them meet those standards?
-
15:20 – where can listeners learn more?
-
16:00 – outro
This content is sponsored by:
About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.