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Electricity 2.0: Using the Lessons of the Web to Improve Our Energy Networks

Development of the Internet/IT borrowed heavily from the utility company approach—but what about learning from successful Web models to deliver utilities in new ways? Today's AC power grid is based on an 1888 design. Many implementation decisions that are still in use today were made using the limited emerging technology available 120 years ago. Specific obsolete power grid assumptions • centralized generation • top-down unidirectional transmission and distribution • loading models based on historical demand predictions • no intelligence in grid components • closed, proprietary models represent a vision of what was thought possible in the 19th century.