This guest post is provided by Navigant Research. The author, Mackinnon Lawrence, is a research director leading Navigant Research’s Smart Energy program.
The power sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation, from a centralized hub-and-spoke grid architecture, based on large centralized generation assets like coal-fired power plants, toward an increasingly decentralized electrical grid that makes use of renewable, distributed energy resources (DER). This shift away from traditional power plants encompasses a diverse suite of technologies that go beyond DER. Energy storage, energy efficiency, demand response, and the advanced software and enabling hardware that enable greater interoperability across heterogeneous grid elements are all key components of the emerging energy cloud.