Disruptive Technologies

We aim to unlock the potential of disruptive technologies that are emerging to make the energy grid more transparent, efficient, and cost-effective.

What Is the Disruptive Technologies Initiative?

Transforming the electricity system requires that new and emerging technologies, platforms, and approaches can take hold even in the face of powerful incumbents. This initiative evaluates what’s emerging on the ‘distribution edge’ to reveal trends, forecast impacts, and enable customer-centric energy solutions to scale more broadly.

Why It Matters

Customers today have never had more opportunities to influence the ways they consume power and interact with the electric grid. Distributed energy technologies are growing rapidly in both sophistication and adoption by the public. We need to streamline efforts to bring these technologies into the mainstream.

Who’s Involved

We work with existing and emerging energy service and technology companies, software developers, research institutions, and other NGOs looking for opportunities to drive a more clean, distributed, customer-centric electricity paradigm.

WHAT WE’RE DOING

WattTime

Measuring carbon emissions correctly to reduce them cost-effectively

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Energy Web Foundation

Unleashing the potential of blockchain technology in the energy sector

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What We’ve Accomplished

A November 2014 charrette on battery costs brought the energy storage market together and shifted its attention from a sole focus on cost to a dual focus on cost and value. Resulting analysis was published in The Economics of Grid Defection, which financial institutions ranging from Barclays to Citigroup cited in their own analyst reports and utility credit ratings.

Our following 2015 report The Economics of Load Defection analyzed how falling costs for residential and commercial grid-connected solar-plus-battery systems could drastically change the balance of market power between utilities and customers. It garnered prominent coverage in Bloomberg, Forbes, and Scientific American, prompting the Washington Post to declare, “…the way we power our homes may be on the verge of a major change.” One month later, Morgan Stanley echoed our findings, noting big implications for Australian utilities because of similar load defection from falling demand due to the rise of household solar-plus-battery systems.