IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2022 - 92

Hamidreza Zareipour
digital power grid
lessons from history to imagine the future
M
92
MUCH HAS CHANGED IN THE
power industry since the inception of
commercial electrical power systems.
What has not changed is the cycle of
disruption and adaptation empowered
by innovation. The next disruption is
on the horizon and is fueled by the push
to decarbonize the grid. In this article,
I argue that the next disruption will be
shaped by three technologies: artificial
intelligence (AI), 5G networks, and
distributed digital ledger (DDL). Even
though historical elements in this article
are drawn from the evolution of
the power industry in the United States,
parallels can be found elsewhere.
A History of Disruption
The first major disruption in the power
industry was shaped by the so-called
war of currents. Within 20 years since
the commissioning of the first dc power
station in New York, ac dominated the
industry. The legend is that, in 1908,
Thomas Edison sent a message to the
son of William Stanley, the inventor of
transformers, saying " I was wrong! "
As the 20th century began, the first
40 years could be characterized by innovation
in business, regulation, and
technology to adapt to and spread ac
power. The regulated monopoly business
model was born in 1907 when
Samuel Insull, a Chicago businessman,
convinced regulators that a vertically
integrated power utility was the effective
way to bring electricity to the
masses. Regulatory bodies, such as the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2022.3150817
Date of current version: 19 April 2022
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U.S. Federal Power Commission, the
predecessor to the U.S. Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, were born in
this era to oversee and regulate the utility
business. Technological innovations
led to the " kingdom of coal " as ac power
plants became safer and bigger. Coal
was so loved that even hydropower was
called the white coal.
The next major disruption, in my
opinion, occurred when the " kingdom
of coal " was shaken by two new power
generation technologies: gas and nuclear.
Both were born outside
the power industry.
Gas-fired power generation,
a gift of the aviation
industry, was developed
in 1939 to help
win the war in the air.
Nuclear-powered electricity,
experimented
with in 1951, came from
redirecting knowledge
from weapons research
to peaceful uses. The
boom of electricity was
now in full swing, and
society adapted to this
new form of energy.
Within 40 years, electricity
reached almost
every neighborhood in
America, as did air pollution
and heavy dependence on fossil
fuels. Perhaps the most recognizable
television advertisement in the 1960s
was the " Live Better Electrically " campaign,
featuring Ronald Reagan, who
later became the 40th U.S. president.
By the late 1970s, the power indusThe
legend
is that, in
1908, Thomas
Edison sent a
message to the
son of William
Stanley, the
inventor of
transformers,
saying " I was
wrong! "
try was set for another disruption driven
by energy security and air pollution
concerns. The latter led to the Clean
Air Act of 1963 and put thermal power
plants in the spotlight. The former,
rooted in the war of 1973 in the Middle
East, created the U.S. Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of
1978. PURPA had two key elements
that, in my opinion, shaped the power
industry for the following 40 years.
First, it allowed qualified nonutility
generators to enter the
power business. This
was a key step toward
the introduction of competition
in electricity
generation and the birth
of competitive electricity
markets, disrupting
Insull's monopoly utility
model. Second, PURPA
explicitly qualified
wind- and solar-powered
electricity generation to
enter electricity markets.
This marked the beginning
of the wind and
solar industries as we
know them today. Fast
forward to today, and
thanks to many innovations
in technology,
business, and regulatory fronts, we
have adapted to the variability of wind
and solar and have learned how to trade
electrons like tomatoes!
(continued on p. 90)
may/june 2022
in my view
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2022

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