Keynote: Indiana Municipal Power Authority, French Lick, IN – The Future of Energy

Jim Carroll delivered the keynote address at the Indiana Municipal Power Authority (IMPA) annual meeting in French Lick, Indiana in April 2019, speaking to senior executives representing small and mid-size municipal power utilities from communities across the state. The talk explored the transformational forces reshaping the electrical grid — the rapid emergence of wind and solar, accelerating battery storage costs, the rise of microgrids, and the early but unstoppable wave of electric vehicles fundamentally changing load patterns. Carroll challenged attendees to look past the regulatory and political noise and focus on the pace of technological change that was making the old utility business model increasingly fragile. His central message: innovation leaders don’t wait for permission — they move early, adapt fast, and treat disruption as opportunity rather than threat.