Produced at large powerstations far away from cities and users. Sent along long electricity lines to our factories, busineses and homes where we use it and pay for it. Our interaction with electricity was usually only to complain if it goes out and grumble about how much we pay for it.

We could never imagine having a powerstation on our roof let alone producing our own electricity, or having control of when and how we use our electricity. The big powerstations and all those poles and wires cost millions and so only the big players were involved.

Now electricity has become a whole lot more interesting – from a combination of digital technology and low cost renewables and also our understanding of environmental impact of fossil fuels and large hydro.

Modern energy is Distributed; Digital and Decarbonised (cleaner). There are so many different businesses innovating and making money out if it – which is why the electricity industry is now so exciting! You can use your smarts to develop a new business. And because it is distributed across the system; instead of the next investment in power being a 1 x 700MW coal powerstation (costing $,000m, taking 5-7 years to build and far away from customers. What about 700 x 1MW power stations paid for by a whole lot of different participants distributed across our electricity system much closer (or at) the users taking months rather than years to build. Orchestrating those powerssytems with smart controls creates interesting tech opportunities.