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

You Can Now Get Solar Power With a Netflix-Style Subscription

Courtesy of The Washington Post, a look at how you can now get solar power with a Netflix-style subscription: No roof, no solar power. That has been the dispiriting equation shutting out roughly half of all Americans from plugging into the sun. But signing up for solar soon might be as easy as subscribing to Netflix. […]

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Virtual Power Plants And Demand Flexibility

Via Energy Central, a look at virtual power plants and demand flexibility: The rapid growth of distributed energy resources (DERs) plus digitalization of devices and artificial intelligence (AI) is leading to increased interest in virtual power plants (VPPs). The fundamentals are straightforward: aggregate large numbers of smart devices such as rooftop solar panels, smart thermostats, […]

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The SunZia Transmission Project and Carbon Tunnel Vision

Via The Land Desk, commentary on the SunZia transmission project and carbon tunnel vision: This May the Biden Administration gave the final go-ahead for the SunZia transmission line, which is designed to carry power from wind facilities in New Mexico to a major grid hub in the Phoenix area. The approval — which came after 17 years of […]

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Is Your Fleet Ready for Vehicle-To-Grid?

Via GreenBiz, an article on how – before pursuing the reduced costs and environmental benefits promised by vehicle-to-grid tech – people should make these careful considerations: Fleets of electric vehicles that not only plug into a charger to sip power but also to feed power back to an electric grid or building are mostly a thing […]

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U.S. Virtual Power Plants Expected To Proliferate

Via UtilityDive, a look at how battery storage and smart appliances make virtual power plants an increasingly viable option to address the intermittency of renewable energy: As an increasing supply of renewable energy resources requires greater reliability and resiliency for the power grid, virtual power plants are emerging as one way to ensure the supply […]

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Bi-Directional Charging: Putting Gridlock In Rearview Mirror?

Via The Atlantic, a look at the power grid in an era of growing electricity consumption: Every Texan I know has what you might call “grid anxiety,” a low-humming preoccupation with electricity that emerged after brutal winter storms kneecapped the state’s isolated power grid in February 2021. That frigid disaster triggered highway pileups and runs on grocery […]

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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.