Back in 1990s, the world witnessed a watershed moment with the IT revolution— followed by a stream of Tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber etc. transforming the world; helping us define the old and the modern world better. Today too, the world has reached a new horizon with the introduction of Enernet or Energy Internet and soon we all will be dependent on it.
With internet—of—things guiding the way, there will be power plants, renewable power stations, electric cars, electrical appliances— all woven together in a bouquet of wireless communication and power lines. Enernet has the ability to “effectively manage massive and complex communication needs of the modern electric grid and all of its components…”
Energy internet is like an operating system which manages locally produced or distributed energy assets such as wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, battery storage and commercial electrical appliances. In a way then, it ensures clean energy generation which stores, delivers and serves as such, thereby laying a critical foundation for smart cities.
This means soon every device one owns will be connected to internet, allowing one to efficiently manage their day—to—day life. Be it self—transportation, wearable fitness trackers, collecting data on air and soil temperature, alarm systems, smoke detectors, refrigerator, lighting, entertainment systems and even the doorbell— all will be connected, controlled and monitored from a mobile device. Energy Internet will, therefore, aid the common man to maintain a smart home and lifestyle, allowing one to save energy and cut costs.
India, for example, in 2015 launched its 100 Smart City Mission. Fully equipped with Smart Grid systems, renewable energy sources like that of solar will be leveraged along with green buildings. In fact, “it has been proposed that 10% of the energy requirements of smart cities will be met by solar energy and about 80% buildings will be made energy-efficient and green.”
Clearly, at the core of Enernet’s vast network will be renewable energies, which are already being used in Europe and China— with the latter being a leader in clean energy. As per the International Energy Agency, China holds one—third share of world’s wind power with four of the top ten wind—turbine makers and a quarter of the world’s solar capacity accompanied by six of the top ten solar—panel manufacturers. It also leads in the construction of nuclear power plants and sells more electric vehicles than the rest of the world put together. China has now been consciously moving towards decentralizing and decarbonizing the energy supply— thereby developing energy technologies of future.
It is a well-recognized fact that energy and technology have together transformed the world for centuries. Steam power transformed industrial landscape of the 19th century world, while telephone and electricity accelerated this trend in the 20th century. And even though, as Information technology was just gaining ground in the 21st century, we now have a new kind of energy system which will be decisive in geopolitical and geo—economic evolutions. This will indeed pave way for new energy regimes and allow for new communication revolutions— all of which is expected to be smart, connected and versatile.
