Energy innovation has always been a key part of American success, from Thomas Edison’s lightbulb to Thomas Savery’s steam engine. However, the focus on innovation has overshadowed the need for preservation. The U.S. energy grid is aging, with 70% of power lines over 25 years old. This has led to more outages in the U.S. than any other country, costing billions of dollars. In 2021, power surges in Texas alone cost between $80bn and $130bn.
Despite these challenges, the government has not prioritized reinvestment in electrical infrastructure. Instead, trillions of dollars are being spent on insourcing chip production to compete with China. However, organizations have emerged to optimize energy capacity through demand-response programs and behavior-linked credits like carbon credits. These programs incentivize customers to shift electricity usage to times of lower demand, helping to relieve stress on the grid.
While demand-response programs have potential, their implementation has been minimal. According to the U.S. EIA, these programs only save about 29 GwH a year, which is a small fraction of total energy consumption. One company, Opower, was able to save over $3bn in energy costs by encouraging homeowners to use less energy. However, the underlying issues with the grid still remain.
One of the main challenges with demand-response is the lack of data availability and control to remotely modify energy usage. Energy data is often siloed, making it difficult to establish real-time energy consumption metrics across utilities. This lack of data also hinders quick responses to grid stress. Blockchains could provide a solution by unifying energy data and creating a baseline health map for the U.S. energy grid.
On the hardware side, Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) like solar panels and charging stations are rapidly growing. New networks are emerging that use blockchain and crypto to increase data availability and coordination. These networks can provide real-time data on energy usage nationwide and enable automated demand-response functions.
With these advancements, decentralized generative energy networks (DeGENs) can create a programmable grid that benefits from broad data availability and automated response. This could significantly reduce outages in the U.S. and optimize regional energy pricing. DeGENs have the potential to shift the energy industry towards collaborative capitalism, where economic value is shared among participants rather than concentrated in a few companies.
In conclusion, the transformation of the energy grid is underway, with new technologies and approaches offering solutions to long-standing challenges. By embracing innovation and collaboration, the U.S. energy sector can move towards a more resilient and efficient future.