A smart grid is a transactive grid.
- Lynne Kiesling
Author Archive

Where Is The Amazon, Apple or Google Of The Utility Sector?

Via Greentech Media, an interesting report on a question posed by NRG Energy CEO David Crane, in reference to what he describes as the “four companies that will inherit the earth,” Crane bemoans the fact that there is not yet a company in the US energy space to match the members of this quartet, or […]

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The Distributed Electrical System Of The Future And The Importance Of Transactive Energy

Via the Rocky Mountain Institute, an interesting article on the distributed electrical system of the future and the importance of transactive energy: The speed of disruptive innovation in the electricity sector has been outpacing regulatory and utility business model reform, which is why they now sometimes feel in conflict. That disruptive innovation is only accelerating. […]

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Disrupting Energy: Ebays Of Electricity

Via Energy Post, an interesting article on how the production cost of distributed solar energy may fall so low that it will render fossil fuel obsolete by 2030 which will cause markets to be redesigned, leading to huge opportunities for companies that can aggregate and trade distributed generation.  We’ve long called this phenomenon smart markets […]

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Smart Grids For Water: Will California Get Smart About Water?

Via Engerati, an interesting commentary on the need for – and potential of – a Smart Grid Approach to water: The California drought is big news for the state and the nation.  California’s agriculture sector, which supplies about half the nation’s fruit and vegetables and uses about 80% of the state’s water, will have to […]

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An Aussie Power Shopper: New VentureTakes On Utilities With Green Energy Supermarket

Via Renew Economy, an interesting article on a renewable energy based electricity supermarket: Australia’s disaffected electricity consumers are about to get a taste of what could be the future of the electricity market with the official launch of a new retailer that will offer an “electricity supermarket” and the choice of renewable energy power sources. […]

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Water: Commodity Of The 21st Century

Via the Guardian, an interesting article on how NGOs, businesses and governments are collaborating to tackle the water, food, energy nexus.  This is of interest from a smart markets perspective given some of the innovative ways organizations are thinking of trading & exchanging water and energy: “Water is going to be the commodity of the […]

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About This Blog And Its Authors
Grid Unlocked is powered by two eco-preneurs who analyze and reference articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between smart meters, smart grids, and above all: smart markets.

Based on decades of experience and interest in conservation, Monty Simus believes that a truly “smart” grid must be a “transactive” grid, unshackled from its current status as a so-called “natural monopoly.”

In short, an unlocked grid must adopt and harness the power of markets to incentivize individual users, linked to each other on a large scale, who change consumptive behavior in creative ways that drive efficiency and bring equity to use of the planet's finite and increasingly scarce resources.