The Energy sector accounts for roughly 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions - stemming from industry, the built environment and transportation. Change energy, and you change our future.
It’s that simple. Many readers will already know this - that is why you are here. But in a world so complex and convoluted with new technology, geopolitical tension, culture wars, and disruptive innovation, it’s easy to lose sight of the single, simple possibility of the energy transition: that it can stop and eventually reverse climate change.
That said, navigating the complexities of the energy transition is anything but simple - this is another reason you are here. Helping enable us to connect these intricacies with feasible, scalable solutions is the purpose of Power Moves.
How we orchestrate the energy transition in the next 10 years will dictate where we land by the year 2050 - and even by 2100 - in regards to the global economy, climate change, sustainable technology growth (particularly AI), and the prosperity of people around the world. The decisions we make and the energy challenges we overcome in the next 10 years will set the stage for how promising the remainder of the 21st century will be for humankind.
So where do we begin? Recently, you’ve no doubt heard varying schools of thought around renewable energy - primarily wind and solar - and what its future might hold given today’s political landscape in the US and other polarized nations.
For those of you attuned to the capital markets, Bloomberg and the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported $2.1 Trillion of investment in the energy transition in 2024 - up 11% from 2023. Despite geopolitical changes, 2025 investment is still set to top this number.
The bottom line - renewable energy projects aren’t going anywhere. There’s too much money in it. Solar and wind energy have reached or dipped past price parity with fossil fuels across much of the globe and banks, energy developers, corporate energy customers, and private equity are all pouring money into the sector. In the US in particular, capitalism still rules above political strife, and investment in renewables is a smart money move no matter what way you slice it.
If you’re already in the energy industry - hopefully that hyped you up. If you’re new, hopefully that speaks to how much opportunity lies in this sector - a sector which also happens to be critical in keeping global conditions livable for humankind.
So, what does this all look like for the supportive infrastructure behind the energy transition - the grid? Because of the financial and decarbonization benefits of renewable energy, most major utilities have pledged to be ~80% renewables by 2035 or earlier. The greatest obstacle here is that the majority of our grids are yesterday’s grids, built for yesterday’s energy sources - like thermal generation from coal, gas or nuclear - much of which was commissioned 40-70 years ago.
Wind and sunlight are converted into renewable energy differently (via inverters) than fossil fuels are converted into thermal energy (via heat spinning a turbine), so renewables therefore interact differently with the grid. More on this in following editions. As we connect more and more renewable energy to the grid, these new grid interactions are beginning to show signs of regional grid instability - issues which will only exacerbate as the share of renewables in the energy mix increases.
The grid of 2035 must be designed to support renewable resources or it will fail. And, due to lengthy supply chain cycles on most grid support equipment, we need to focus heavily on getting these projects off the ground today.
The optimized grid of 2035 will look something like:
Major solar and wind collection supported by energy storage (i.e. large-scale battery systems) and flexibility (as-needed, on demand thermal generation from natural gas, eventually hydrogen).
Smaller, decentralized grids which can respond to fluctuations in energy demand and dispatch backup energy more quickly.
Seamless transmission interconnections across the grid, leveraging grid enhancing support from the strategic placement of FACTS devices, synchronous condensers and other grid enhancing technology.
Heavily expanded high-voltage transmission projects, able to carry sufficient energy to meet increased energy demands of both rising temperatures and the AI datacenter boom.
Decarbonization focused construction - incorporating low carbon concrete and steel, materials re-use, and minimizing scrap - to reduce the environmental footprint of major energy projects.
Join us as we dive into detail on the numerous challenges presented within these topics - and their innovative solutions, which can help us reach a more prosperous future. Thank you for joining - welcome to Power Moves!
Max P Frank
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxpfrank/
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