The opportunity
Optimize the flow of electricity, accommodate intermittent renewables like solar and wind, reduce energy waste, improve grid reliability, and empower consumers with more choices.
From “AI Megatrends - AI In Energy : Connected, Intelligent Energy and Energy SaaS” (June 2023)
AI was absolutely necessary with the arrival of smart grids: The level of grid autonomy, reliability, and optimality of operation depends on the effectiveness of its monitoring, control, and protection methods. Today, smart grids are characterized by a bi-directional flow of electricity and information and leverage distributed computing and communications to deliver real-time information and enable near-instantaneous corrective actions.
The smart grid chip technology is a new distributed AI platform installed alongside electric meters, intended to integrate distributed energy resources such as solar, battery storage, and electric vehicles — enhancing the resiliency of the grid.
Renewable Energy Integration : The intermittent nature of renewable energy sources like wind and solar makes their integration into the energy grid challenging. AI has been instrumental in predicting production from these sources based on weather forecasts and other factors. This helps to balance the energy supply from these renewable sources with the demand and other energy sources.
From “The Trends Scorecard: Energy & Utilities - What I Predicted, and What Actually Happened” (June 2026)
The grade: Hit. Smart meters, IoT sensors, and AI-driven analytics are now standard in grid modernization. Power and data flow in both directions, distributed energy resources feed back into the system, and “load balancing in real time” is a job the grid does today. I also said in that piece that Moore’s Law was coming to renewables, and that the cost of solar would behave like the cost of computing. It did.
At the end of 2019, in my “20 Trends into 2030” piece, I wrote a retrospective from the imagined vantage point of the future and described what the energy industry would look like once the transformation played out. This is the paragraph that maps almost the entire modern energy thesis in one breath. We’ve moved from a world of centralized energy production based on big facilities generating from carbon and nuclear, to a massively distributed architecture based on the input of millions of small, local renewable energy resources. We’ve gone from essentially dumb, one-way grids to highly intelligent two-way smart grids that feature accelerated load balancing. The architecture of the grid itself has changed - for example, most cars and trucks have now become a part of the energy grid through vehicle-to-grid battery connectivity, storing energy during off peak hours and feeding it back into the grid later on. Most utilities have also found themselves operating in the highway and road-building industry, as electrified roads and charging infrastructure appeared everywhere to support a world that involves a majority of electric-battery vehicles.
The grade: Hit. The “prosumer” is now the industry’s own word for the active participant who both produces and consumes energy. Home energy management systems do exactly what I described, managing rooftop solar, storage, and sale-back. And the second-life battery industry I pointed to is real, companies like Evyon in Norway have deployed nearly 1,000 second-life battery modules across projects in six countries, turning retired EV batteries into grid storage. The community microgrid in Feldheim, Germany even built its own independent grid and now sells 99% of its wind power back to the national one. “You’ve got a grid, I’ve got a grid” turned out to be a business plan.
From “Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #3 Energy: ""The power plant of the past was a smokestack on the horizon. The power plant of the future is the solar panel on your roof, the battery in your garage, and the intelligent software that connects them all.”” (September 2025)
accelerating renewables & grid parity . Renewables like solar and wind are now the cheapest source for new power generation in most markets. In 2023, 81% of all new renewable capacity added worldwide generated electricity more cheaply than the most economical fossil fuel options.
aging and inadequate infrastructure: Smaller players do not operate in a vacuum; they must connect to the existing grid. This infrastructure is often old and ill-equipped to handle the dynamic, two-way flow of power from thousands of distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar and EV batteries.
the community-owned grid: Feldheim, Germany: A small village in Brandenburg, Germany, Feldheim is a pioneering example of a community-driven approach to energy independence. The local utility company refused to lease the local grid to the community, creating a major obstacle to their goal of self-sufficiency. In response, the community partnered with a local developer to build its own independent electricity and district heating grids, financed by EU support and a partnership of local households. The technology mix is diverse, including a 74 MW wind farm, a biogas plant fueled by local agricultural waste, and a solar park. The Outcome: Feldheim achieved 100% energy self-sufficiency, and residents enjoy energy prices about a third lower than the national average. The project created local jobs and now generates significant revenue by selling 99% of its wind power back to the national grid.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
AI Megatrends - AI In Energy : Connected, Intelligent Energy and Energy SaaS
The Trends Scorecard: Energy & Utilities - What I Predicted, and What Actually Happened
Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #3 Energy: ""The power plant of the past was a smokestack on the horizon. The power plant of the future is the solar panel on your roof, the battery in your garage, and the intelligent software that connects them all.”