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

Clean Energy Tech Threatens to Overwhelm the Grid. Here’s How It Can Adapt.

Via Vox, a detailed look at how the centralized, top-down power grid is outdated and could be redesigned from the bottom up: The US power grid is, by some estimates, the largest machine in the world, a continent-spanning wonder of the modern age. And despite its occasional well-publicized failures, it is remarkably reliable, delivering energy to […]

Read more »



How to Turn Your Electric Car Into a Mobile Power Plant

Via Bloomberg, a look at how “bidirectional charging” promises to transform EVs into backup power sources and help utilities hedge against climate-related power disruptions If you’re planning to buy an electric car in 2024, you’ll want to compare models’ price, range and charging speed. But you should also ask whether the car is capable of powering your home […]

Read more »



The Solar-Panel Backlash Is Here

Via The Atlantic, commentary on what some call the solar panel backlash where – on sunny days, some states can waste lots of clean energy – and utilities’ response has been to make panels less affordable: In Los Angeles, where I live, the rites of autumn can feel alien. Endless blue skies and afternoon highs […]

Read more »



Energy Dept. Pours Billions Into Power Grids but Warns It’s Not Enough

Via The New York Times, a look at how America’s electric grids may need to expand by two-thirds by 2035 to handle future growth in clean energy, but the nation isn’t on track: The Energy Department on Monday announced $1.3 billion to help build three large power lines across six states, part of a new gusher of […]

Read more »



US Announces $3.5B To Strengthen Electric Grid, Bolster Resilience

Via Quartz, a report on a recent Biden administration announcement of $3.5 billion for 58 projects across the country to strengthen electric grid resilience as extreme weather events such as the deadly Maui and California wildfires continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems: The Biden administration on Wednesday announced $3.5 billion for 58 projects across […]

Read more »



IEA: World Must Add 50,000 Miles of Power Lines by 2040 To Hit Climate Goals

Via Energy Daily, a new IEA report forecasting that the world must add 50,000 miles of power lines by 2040 to hit climate targets: The world must double existing power grid networks to 100,000 miles globally by 2040 to avoid missing the internationally agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise target and eroding energy security, the […]

Read more »


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.