Energy Futures?

Research on disruptions, innovations and risks to critical infrastructures

The climate crisis is driving a rapid transformation of the power grid. The ways we produce and consume energy now demand coordinated engineering, economic, and political interventions. Situated between supply and demand, there is a growing need for collaboration. This is where digital innovation is increasingly playing a crucial role.

Digitalisation is often seen as key to decarbonisation—enabling the electrification of transport and heating, balancing renewable intermittency through smarter storage and distribution, and creating tariffs that reward flexible consumption. But upgrading the grid isn’t as simple as adding new technologies on top of existing infrastructure. Much of today’s energy system was built decades ago, using legacy computers and networks designed for stability and reliability, rather than for real-time data exchange, cybersecurity, or interoperability. Many of these systems were never meant to be connected to the internet.

Now, connected innovations like IoT devices, cloud computing, AI-driven maintenance, and real-time analytics are being layered onto infrastructures that were never built to support them. This creates tension between the drive for modernisation and the grid’s foundational goal: ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of electricity.

The question isn’t just whether we can modernise the grid, but how: What kinds of policies, public debates, and expert collaborations can ensure that digitalisation supports rather than disrupts secure, equitable, and sustainable energy delivery? These are sociotechnical challenges, therefore, they demand engaged, interdisciplinary responses.

This website is a repository of academic and creative works curated by Dr Ola Michalec, a social scientist based at the University of Bristol.