Any plan to mitigate global warming
Two developments respectively help and hinder the emergence of smart electrical grids. On the plus side are sophisticated monitoring devices that quickly identify any glitch in transmission systems. These intelligent technologies allow two-way communication between energy consumers and utilities, and scalable storage devices such as batteries and fuel cells.
On the negative side – paradoxically – is renewable energy. Such sources, of course, have much going for them. Hydroelectric turbines, wind turbines and photovoltaic panels produce power from sources that are sustainable and clean. And because they don't emit atmospheric carbon, they are essential in any plan to mitigate global warming.
Supply v/s demand
The problem is that photovoltaic panels and wind turbines only produce power when the sun shines or the wind blows (or, in the case of hydroelectric power, when the reservoirs are full) so production doesn't necessarily dovetail with demand.
Indeed, Rajagopal said, a massive infusion of sustainable energy into the current US electrical grid could be – well, unsustainable. If we went mostly to renewable sources, we could be bedeviled by brownouts. Utilities would ultimately be forced to build new ecologically unfriendly power plants as a back-up. The grid would be burdened by excess generation capacity that would be needed only rarely, gathering dust and burning dollars the rest of the time.