Energy deregulation in Europe has unlocked a landscape where solid state utility monopolies are giving way to a decentralized, competitive, energy market. This shift enables businesses, municipalities and individuals to become energy producers, storers and traders rather than “consumers.”
IoT is the Glue of the Smart Grid
IoT makes real-time monitoring, automation, and optimization of energy usage a reality. Smart sensors, meters, and control systems allow dynamic demand response. Businesses adjust power usage based on grid demand and pricing, in real-time. IoT devices balance power loads, ideally preventing rolling blackouts and optimizing flow. Solar farms, wind turbines, and energy storage systems can be managed remotely and integrated into a micro or macro grid network.
It might seem absurd to deliver your national energy supply into the hands of speculators for no apparent reason. There is a valid reason if the purpose is to move energy from a public utility to a traded commodity. This shift creates a duality where regular mom and pop energy creators can now sell their energy output to an open market. Knowledge is literally power.
Big Players, Big Moves: Who’s Driving This Change?
Companies like Dalkia, Engie, Enel X, and Siemens are investing heavily in IoT-enabled energy solutions. Behind them is another slew of global players like Microsoft and Veolia operating in the connectivity layer between power and devices. A third group of major multinationals are working on grid linked alternative power sources.
- Microgrid management for cities and industrial parks.
- Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) that aggregate small producers into grid-scale contributors.
While the largest corporations are circling energy sources like sharks, many ordinary people are floating with the current. Key information is not hidden. In fact, it is the opposite; the concepts seem strange and alien. The primary constraints of national supply and demand based on seasonality and key resources have moved to a continent wide market driven model.
Within such a construct it is valuable to become aware of your personal energy needs, to develop an understanding of where renewables, insulation, biogas, biomass, wind, water and traditional fuel sources fit within a circular economy model. There are reasonably priced options to store and convert energy that you can develop into useful domestic power sources. There are tools to manage and control your power use. This literal empowerment comes with a price. It will cost you in time and effort, but in the end you are “in charge.”
