If Geeks Ran the (electric) Grid

TITLE: If Geeks Ran the (electrical) Grid.

My letter that didn't get published in the Economist this week...

The myth of ‘natural monopoly’ insulates the electricity sector.?If tech geeks ran the grid, interconnection would be easy so I could sell power from the perpetual motion machine in my basement.?Today’s grid is closed; connection is onerous. In contrast, the resilient and hardened Internet was created from scratch by engineers without limiting the edge.

?As a boy in bone-chilling Scotland fifty years ago, I clung to the electric heater in the morning.?Every house had a clock that turned off the heat at 7 AM.?Power was scarce.?Industry had priority.?That clock made the grid smarter than most American homes today.? In 2008, I wrote a report "If Geeks Ran the Grid." I was about to update it, but it is still current and provides guidance on the open grid initiative critical to renewables and electrifying transport, building energy and other sectors. Read it here, then find me at [email protected] 617-306-9312 to advance your part in this plan.

Steve Kropper, Partner, Skunk Works Fund