Electric Grids

There are several major challenges to modern electrical power grids. The most significant of which are the grids ability to utilize electricity produced from renewable energy sources, transferring electric power to end consumers, and stopping cyber and terror attacks. The majority of electric power is current generated by fossil fuels, yet renewable energy is anticipated to overtake fossil fuels in the coming decades. The current electrical grid system is not set up to handle this transition, and will require a complete overhaul to function properly. While overhauling the electrical grid system to fit renewable energy, it would also make sense to attempt to increase the feasibility of transferring electric power. The United states loses approximately 5% of all electricity produced just by moving it from places of production to consumption. Part of the solution is to decentralize the American power grid while updating the infrastructure. This will allow for a shift away from large scale producers towards smaller local energy sources. Allowing for consumers to have a more secure network for electricity consumption.

Decentralized electricity production will also result in a decrease in cyber and terror attacks on the infrastructure. If a terrorist group decided to halt electrical production or consumption on a wide scale, then they would need to target multiple geographically different locations in a small amount of time. This is difficult, and would require a lot more planning than an attack on a large electrical facility. This also has potential importance in the cyber realm as well. As with electricity production decentralization, grid operability is not in the single hands of one seller, a decentralized database network will allow for a safer electrical grid. This will prevent cyber-attacks, as each decentralized mode of production would be disconnected from one another. The best method of doing this would be a blockchain based system of decentralized database, all of which functioning without the need for one another. One can be attacked and taken offline, and all the other nodes would be completely fine.