Energy Unlocked

Renewable energy has been part of our energy mix for over a century, but digital, technical, social and financial innovation are changing how we buy, produce and consume electricity, and making it possible to achieve 100 per cent renewable power. Traditional "command and control" hierarchy in current energy markets is already being disrupted by decentralised intermittent renewables and 'prosumers' who now produce as well as consume electricity. This trend is unlocking new ‘flexibility’ in the demand-side of energy: we can now store energy, or automatically shift consumption patterns to match renewable generation.

Embracing energy innovation today will make our energy system more resilient tomorrow. The world is more complex and interconnected than ever before; what happens in one part of the world can impact far-away economies. Severe weather events and local power outages disrupting critical infrastructure can cause political or economic instability.

Supporting energy innovation means we can tackle climate change. Bloomberg New Energy Finance finds that even with 60 per cent renewables by 2030, we are reaching dangerous levels of climate change within the next decade. We need to accelerate the pace of adoption of renewables by enabling innovation not only in energy supply technologies, but in energy demand and storage as well.