Energy systems are undergoing their most significant transformation since the widespread adoption of electricity over a century ago. Cutting-edge energy technologies, artificial intelligence, evolving policies, and shifting energy demands are reshaping markets domestically and globally. To effectively adapt to these changes and leverage emerging technologies, robust data management and platform solutions are critical for coordinating the complex interactions within the energy landscape.
At the MIT 2025 Platform Strategy Summit, Geoff Parker—co-host of the event and Faculty Director of Dartmouth's Irving Institute—moderated the panel, Powering the Future-Platforms and the Energy Transition. The expert panel discussed strategies to maximize the opportunities of this dynamic energy transition while minimizing associated risks and costs.
Moderator: Geoffrey Parker, Faculty Director, Dartmouth's Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy & Society
Panelists:
One of the key themes emerging from the discussion is the critical role of data and platforms in coordinating the complex interactions between energy supply and demand. As Parker pointed out, these platforms are essential for matching variable supply to demand.
Brock illuminated how Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)—encompassing solar arrays, battery storage, and electric vehicles—can evolve into the connective tissue of the electricity grid. Software platforms, in this context, aren't just helpful add-ons; they're essential for integrating these diverse resources. This integration would empower consumers to save money and bolster grid resilience. The scale of this transformation is significant: with 50 million DERs already deployed across US homes, there is vast potential for a truly bi-directional grid.
Ballentine underscored the burgeoning influence of generative AI and its anticipated role in the expansion of virtual power plants (VPPs). VPPs can aggregate DERs to meet escalating electricity demand. This approach could provide a flexible and scalable mechanism for balancing the grid. Today's energy landscape has matured into a more distributed system, with prosumers (those who both produce and consume energy) actively selling power through platforms. This shift brings both new opportunities and challenges, particularly in prioritizing electricity reliability and affordability. Platforms can become vital marketplaces; however they prompt fundamental questions about ecosystem ownership and data management.
Chan elevated a critical question: How do we effectively coordinate these DERs? The core challenge is designing mechanisms that incentivize participation while ensuring seamless integration with existing grid infrastructure. It's about crafting a collaborative ecosystem, not just adding new components.
The panelists also examined key market mechanisms and policy innovations needed to accelerate the energy transition.
Ballentine offered a historical perspective, noting Walmart's early adoption of corporate clean energy goals back in 2005, setting a precedent for others. She highlighted a significant energy shift: Before the mid-2010s, energy customers had limited influence on supply, purchasing energy at spot market prices. The diversification of energy production through solar and wind provided customers more choice.
Brock expanded on Ballentine's involvement in forming what became the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA). Companies with ambitious decarbonization goals lacked internal protocols and external procurement mechanisms to secure carbon-free electricity efficiently. CEBA addressed this by creating a community for sharing best practices and generating demand signals, fostering a robust market.
A major market challenge is aligning utility incentives with energy transition goals. Chan noted a fundamental misalignment: utilities are motivated by capital deployment because they can capture costs in future rates, and lack incentives for near-term cost-saving efficiencies. Chan suggested policy innovation could disrupt this outdated model.
Spock highlighted Google's proactive approach to complex challenges like carbon removal. This involves pioneering methodologies that require rigorous monitoring and verification. By taking calculated risks, Google aims to foster innovation and establish a transparent marketplace, essential for attracting investment to meet climate goals. For example, Google's collaboration with McKinsey Sustainability, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and Stripe through Frontier–a $1 billion advance market commitment (AMC)–aims to purchase permanent carbon removal by 2030.
The panelists identified several critical barriers hindering the widespread adoption of no- and low-carbon energy technologies, underscoring the multifaceted challenges facing the energy transition. These obstacles can be grouped into financial hurdles, regulatory constraints, and the need for Grid Modernization.
Financial Hurdles: A major obstacle is the inherent risk associated with innovative energy projects. As Chan pointed out, first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technologies often struggle to achieve economic viability. Scaling up requires making the economics work, but FOAK technologies frequently aren't profitable initially. It's typically the tenth iteration that becomes financially viable. The challenge lies in how to distribute private-sector risk to reach that critical tenth, making early-stage projects attractive to investors. Since ROI doesn't often align for FOAK ventures, innovative financing and risk mitigation strategies are essential.
To address this, the DOE introduced Adoption Readiness Levels (ARLs), a new tool for evaluating the commercial viability of energy technologies. Building upon Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), ARLs provide a comprehensive evaluation of a technology's maturity and potential for market success. Using both frameworks can boost investor confidence and accelerate commercialization.
Chan also stressed the importance of new financing models and risk-sharing mechanisms to spread risk through the ecosystem, helping reach technological tipping points. These may include crowdsourcing, Contract for Differences (CfDs)–financial instruments that hedge against asset price fluctuations–and federal funding for first-loss capital, all designed to stimulate private sector investment.
Regulatory Constraints: Beyond financial challenges, regulatory and infrastructure bottlenecks present significant challenges. Panelists pointed out that permitting remains a major obstacle for new energy projects, making streamlining the process essential for faster deployment of clean energy infrastructure.
Chan emphasized that utilities and regulations must evolve to support today's technologies. The current system incentivizes utilities to deploy capital and recuperate through rate increases. They don't get paid for things that save money, like grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), which have enormous potential to quickly increase transmission capacity.
Grid Modernization: Brock highlighted the urgent need for grid modernization to support the growing integration of DERs into the grid. Utilities must update their practices and infrastructure to build a more flexible and resilient grid.
Ballentine highlighted an innovative approach by Google and CTC Global that challenges the traditional utility model. As Google's expanding data center footprint increases electricity demand, they saw a critical opportunity: leverage next-generation transmission technology to quickly boost grid capacity. However, since utilities are primarily incentivized to build new infrastructure like transmission lines–a process that takes years–this opportunity was unlikely to be realized through conventional channels. To address this, Google and CTC Global issued a Request for Information (RFI) targeting states, utilities, and transmission developers to explore alternative solutions.
Brock noted the need to move toward an interactive, two-way grid enabled by platforms that empower customers to demand what they want. Her company's API facilitates machine-to-machine interactions among thousands of connected devices, an important tool in modernizing the grid. Through Derapi, her vision is to optimize these devices to create a more flexible, resilient grid that benefits customers. She also warned that without modernization, many consumers may choose to defect from the grid.
Parker emphasized the vast opportunity for platforms to help to pick up slack across the market to help meet growing energy demand.
The panelists discussed the respective roles of government and the private sector in driving the energy transition.
Chan helped close the session on the positive note that we are closer than we think to our objectives. The current administration wants affordable energy and they are all-in on nuclear and geothermal. Challenges like how utilities are incentivized and permitting are addressable. New efficiencies can be created. For example, with geothermal, if you are drilling for oil and gas, permitting may be skipped for geothermal drilling. AMCs were instrumental to pioneering vaccines. They can be used for technologies co-located with demand to boost energy transmission and avert line losses. And there are huge opportunities with GETS.
Ballentine challenged the assumption that new energy generation is the biggest bottleneck. She proposed that much more electricity could be made available quickly through reconductoring and retrofitting the existing transmission system together with better integration of DERs.
The energy transition is a complex undertaking that requires a multifaceted approach. By embracing data-driven solutions, innovative market mechanisms, and forward-thinking policies, we can accelerate the deployment of affordable, clean energy technologies and create a more sustainable energy future.