Transitioning to a Smarter Grid: Virtual Power Plants

Three companies, sonnen, Swell Energy, and OhmConnect all stand on the leading edge of a new, promising trend in electrical power grids: VPPs.

Three companies, sonnen, Swell Energy, and OhmConnect all stand on the leading edge of a new, promising trend in electrical power grids: VPPs. This article is one in a series investigating the importance of modernizing and decarbonizing the electric grid. If you want to understand the issue in context, see the article Grid Modernization; for cutting edge experts’ take on the topic, see the article Here Is...

Transitioning To A Smarter Grid: American Superconductor

This listed company is developing products to transition our present grid to a more resilient paradigm

This listed company is developing products to transition our present grid to a more resilient paradigm This article is one in a series investigating the importance of modernizing and decarbonizing the electric grid. The company we feature in this article — American Superconductor AMSC — is working on improving current grid infrastructure as part of a multi-decade...

EnerVenue: The Batteries We Need for Grid-Scale Storage

Lithium ion technology is great…for mobile devices. We need something different to create a cheap, dependable modern grid

Lithium ion technology is great…for mobile devices. We need something different to create a cheap, dependable modern grid As I mentioned in my Grid Modernization article, our electrical system was originally designed to supply instantaneous power with essentially zero storage capacity.* A structural inability to store power represents a critical bottleneck in the process of building a...

Grid Modernization: We Must Rebuild Our Innovation Engine

The Biden Administration has a wonderful opportunity to make far-reaching infrastructure improvements that will fight climate change and have a good chance of garnering bipartisan support

The Biden Administration has a wonderful opportunity to make far-reaching infrastructure improvements that will fight climate change and have a good chance of garnering bipartisan support Our electrical grid is a stunning example of human ingenuity and engineering. It spans hundreds of thousands of miles, is fed by thousands of production facilities, and serves hundreds of millions of customers. It is the largest machine ever built and one that...