
Unleashing a solar plus storage tidal wave
Grid infrastructure has been in the spotlight for years, even before the AI-driven data center boom we’ve had headlines of long interconnection queues for both demand and generation. Now it is a mainstream (and bipartisan) issue as politicians grapple with the need to serve a growing electricity demand without landing consumers with even higher bills. International competitiveness depends on the power sector being able to create capacity, fast. A new paradigm for grid operators emerges given the flat electricity demand the United States has experienced in recent decades. Expanding grid capacity, across both generation and network infrastructure, is required throughout the system. However, the greatest opportunity lies at the lowest rung: the low-voltage distribution network. According to research by Capgemini, global average utilization of transmission networks sits around 40 to 50%, while distribution networks operate at under 10%. This is because the lower down the network, the less actively it has been managed. A mass deployment of resources at the grid edge has outsized potential to unlock latent capacity and cascade benefits right through the network. A more traditional approach of just building more physical network capacity (e.g. transformers and cables) at the distribution level would continue the trend of rising bills and take far longer to mobilize. In a capacity constrained paradigm, we should look to maximize the potential of every interconnection point. If lithium ion continues its track record of cost declines, the business case pencils just about anywhere the install can be done efficiently. In this paradigm, any time PV deployed without battery is a great missed opportunity. One of the biggest barriers to this model is red tape. At the residential level, permitting and export approval for solar and battery installations can take many months. As a result, permissionless hardware is gaining traction, for example, over





















