The Future of Power Grids, AI & the Energy Transition | Konstantin Papailiou, CIGRE President

The world needs roughly 10 million kilometers of new high voltage lines in the next 10 to 20 years, and the real bottleneck may be people, not steel. No AI can climb an 80 meter tower to install a spacer damper. Professor Konstantin Papailiou, President of CIGRE, sits down with APC Media following the record-breaking 2026 CIGRE Session in Paris. He traces his career from transmission line contractor to CEO of Pfisterer to leading CIGRE through its 105th year. As the conversation moves from integrating renewables to meeting data center demand, Professor Papailiou argues that the energy transition depends on cooperation among utilities, suppliers and the global expert community. Key topics covered: Why CIGRE was created by the IEC in 1921 to lay the groundwork for international standards, and why its consensus-based working groups remain its greatest strength How CIGRE has grown to more than 25,000 members, 60 national committees and 300 working groups across more than 100 countries Why utility and supplier cooperation replaced price squeezing, and why workforce shortages among linemen and site supervisors are among the biggest challenges A measured view on AI and data centers: progress can't be denied, but energy use deserves more self-control What's next: the One Grid initiative connecting transmission and distribution, and the new CIGRE Innovation and Education Fund with 11 projects selected and 33 in the pipeline 0:00 – Introduction & Guest Background 2:53 – CIGRE at 105: Standards, Consensus & Working Groups 6:16 – Cooperation & the Workforce Challenge 8:30 – Data Centers, AI & Responsible Energy Use 10:22 – Takeaways From the 2026 CIGRE Session in Paris 12:01 – The Future: One Grid & the Innovation and Education Fund 14:26 – Closing 🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn for exclusive updates and behind-the-scenes moments: 👉 Power Systems Technology Page:   / power-systems-technology   👉 Transformer Technology Page:   / transformer-technology   👉 Women in Power Systems:   / women-power-systems   🌐 Visit our website to dive deeper into our offerings and discover valuable resources: https://powersystems.technology/ 📧 Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive content and stay in the loop with exciting developments: https://powersystems.technology/subsc... #PowerSystemsTechnology #CIGRE #EnergyTransition #PowerGrid