Energy Futures?

Research on disruptions, innovations and risks to critical infrastructures

Climate crisis acts as a catalyst for a complete overhaul of the power grid. Both energy supply and demand require engineering, economic and political interventions. At the intersection of supply and demand lies the need to coordinate collaboration efforts. This is precisely where digital technologies can play a significant role!​

Energy systems digitalisation promises to decarbonise the grid through accelerating the electrification of transport and heat, managing the intermittency of renewables through optimised distribution and storage, introduction of tariffs which encourage flexible consumption, among many other proposed solutions.

​However, digitalisation of energy infrastructures is not as simple as installing a layer of new technologies on top of the old ones. The introduction of new digital innovations clashes with the “old world” of legacy systems. In the “old world”, the power grid used to be operated by ageing computers disconnected from the internet, built decades ago for safety and reliability rather than cyber security, privacy, data sharing or interoperability. Therefore, the prospect of adopting innovations which rely on internet connectivity (IoT, real-time consumer analytics, cloud computing, AI-based predictive maintenance) poses challenges to the fundamental goal of energy infrastructure: safe and reliable delivery of electricity.​

​

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