Grids Become Highly Vulnerable

Increasingly violent weather, probably caused by global warming, is increasingly taking down electricity distribution lines and poles and cyberattacks are increasingly taking out electricity, apparently just as trials for major terrorism of this sort. Little wonder that the price of grid electricity is so often rising, further aggravated by the chronic intermittency of solar and wind power being added to save the planet. In countries such as the USA, the trillions of dollars needed to maintain and upgrade the national grid do not seem to be forthcoming but help is at hand from micro and minigrids. These tend to be attached to grids but capable of working independently. As a next stage most of them will not even be attached to grids.
We are starting to purchase self-powered cars, boats and aircraft and solar windows and there are 110 solar road projects. Some cities already have water turbines making electricity in their water supply pipes. That is all zero emission and the change is extending to replacing cooking, air conditioning and heating by fossil fuels with locally generated solar, wind and water power. See the IDTechEx Research reports, “Distributed Generation: Minigrid Microgrid Zero Emission 2018-2038”, “Self-Powering Smart Cities 2018-2028” and “Structural Electronics 2018-2028: Applications, Technologies, Forecasts”. A new and welcome development is tidal and wave power now on sale without infrastructure like dams and tidal barriers, the tidal form even being suitable for rivers. Often these compact units are mobile. See the IDTechEx Research report, “Wave, Tidal and Hydro Power 1W-10MW 2018-2038”. In all cases you can make electricity where you use it without the vulnerability of long power lines over the horizon or internet or grid connection.

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