BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

The development of a sustainable energy system requires innovation in three basic areas; in sustainable energy sources; in smart grids to integrate production and consumption; and in the development of models to understand the non-technological aspects of the production and consumption. This includes the markets, but also an understanding of the social and ethical questions. These non-technological aspects have to be integrated in the design of sustainable sources and smart grids. The development of sustainable energy sources is under way. The most important contribution to sustainable energy will be from hydro, biomass, wind and solar energy. We suggest that renewable energy sources are mainly harvested where they are available (hydro energy in mountainous regions, solar energy closer to the equator, wind energy more offshore).

The development of sustainable energy sources will radically change the electrical infrastructure of the future. Micro grids will be necessary to mini- mise the demands on the transmission and bulk generation systems and to manage production, transmission, distribution, storage, and consumption of local energy. Super grids are required to meet the generation of sustainable energy at a global level. Additionally, smart grids will connect micro grids and super grids to accommodate and balance demand and supply at local, national and supranational level. Despite all this know-how, the question "What will be the architecture of the future?" cannot yet be answered.

The most probable and adequate answer to this question will be: the architecture of the electrical system of the future will not be designed at once but will evolve over many years from today’s infrastructure through the deployment and integration of intelligent systems, through the development and implementation of new devices and components, and through political decisions and actions.

The electrical infrastructure of the future will be very complex, so an adequate model to understand this complexity and its normative aspects is of the utmost importance. We conclude that a combination of two models is required to integrate technical, societal and ethical considerations: the European Commission model and the Triple I model. The European Commission model supports engineers to think over the whole energy conversion chain, hierarchy of power systems and relation with business models. The Triple I model developed by Ribeiro et al. highlights non-technological aspects, the different interests of various stakeholders and the ideals or values that underpin the design of innovations.

Innovations in the field of renewable energy sources are driven by ideas about a sustainable future. This chapter shows that the production of electricity from renewable sources will grow considerably. However, the growth in total global energy consumption exceeds the growth in production by renewable sources. As a consequence, the use of traditional sources like oil, coal and gas and disputed sources like nuclear energy will still grow in the coming decades. In other words, the idea of a sustainable future is still utopian and so more radical choices will have to be made to meet the requirements of the future.

Innovations in the field of smart grids are also driven by ideas about a sustainable future. New technologies are being defined and standards agreed. Despite all these efforts there is not yet such a thing as a smart grid. The smart grid is an innovation that will be shaped by the efforts of many actors like engineers, energy generation enterprises, energy distribution enterprises, technology firms, governments and consumers. Only in a couple of decades from now will we know what smart grids really are.