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The energy industry stands at the edge of unprecedented change. A convergence of three megatrends—widespread electrification, AI-driven data center expansion, and global population growth—is propelling an exponential surge in demand. Coupled with the urgent imperative to slash carbon emissions and combat climate change, we find ourselves in an entirely new world.

NextGrid Alliance Summit 2024: Meeting the Moment for Energy's Future

In the spirit of collectively leaping forward, the NextGrid Alliance Summit this month in Boston gathered more than 250 senior leaders from utilities, government and startups. This cross-section of key players explored ways to more closely collaborate and create a shared vision.

Optimism was palpable. In the words of author and keynote speaker Russell Gold, “The energy transition is not a simple process, but it’s perhaps the greatest opportunity the world has ever faced.”

National Grid Partners, the venture investment and innovation arm of National Grid, established the Alliance in 2019 to help utilities tackles shared technology challenges in this fast-changing landscape. And indeed, a theme echoing throughout the Summit was that technology must play a central role in speeding the clean-energy future.

By changing the way energy is generated, consumed, and managed, startups are both challenging power-sector incumbents and creating shared solutions. Recent years have seen increased collaboration between the two sectors. And at the Summit, there was strong encouragement for established players to experiment more, fail faster, and get to answers sooner.

Getting to Scale

“The time for small initiatives is past. Take risks, pilot quickly, use data from the successful programs to set goals. Tell those stories, and get community and regulators’ support.”

Key to building such startup-utility collaborations were two engaging pitch sessions at the Summit, where the CEOs of emerging companies showcased their solutions for the energy sector. The sessions focused on four areas: Developing the future electric grid, envisioning a carbon-free future, optimizing utility operations and enhancing customer experience. (Not coincidentally, these themes echo the “four pillars” across with National Grid Partners invests.)

Four minutes on stage might sound short, but in fact, the pitches introduced attendees to some trailblazing founders. And they opened the door for those founders and energy leaders to easily connect, whether during ensuing one-on-one sessions, over meals, at networking receptions, or even after the event.

The pitch sessions showcased how startups are accelerating change in the utility sector by going to market fast with precise visions and strategies. The NGA also facilitated small-group breakout meetings to discuss key energy topics, including virtual power plants, grid-enhancing technologies and even the potential effects of the upcoming US presidential election on clean energy efforts.

It Takes an Ecosystem

Another key idea from the Summit was the need to build trust across the ecosystem. That involves partnering for progress, streamlining regulations, and innovating with financing strategies as well as technology.

Yvonne Hao, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development, opened the Summit with a discussion of government initiatives to help the energy industry address climate change. Julia Hamm, longtime CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, in a fireside chat with McClure and National Grid New England President Lisa Wieland underscored the delicate balance between executing change while remaining customer-first.

Attendees also got to hear about practical challenges to innovation. One panel featured energy entrepreneurs who have broken through industry complexity to build successful businesses including Octopus Energy and Silver Spring Networks. A winning strategy, the panelists agreed: Build quickly, launch the product with different customer propositions, and iterate toward the right solutions.

With the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the US government is giving those solutions a boost. In a fireside chat with National Grid Ventures President Ben Wilson, Department of Energy leaders Jigar Shah and Jeff Marootian explained how the federal government is offering billions of dollars in non-dilutive funding and grants to help innovators scale.

Commercialization is essential, and Vanessa Chan – Chief Commercialization Officer for the DOE – closed the day by outlining a pathway for energy professionals on the journey from idea to scale.

A Time for Trust

Across all these discussions, perhaps the most common thread was that while the challenges facing the energy grid are greater than ever, they are also the most exciting.

“National Grid is helping change the electricity mindset by making intentional investments that will take the excellence we have in innovation to excellence in large-scale deployment,” said Wilson. “We’re moving faster than anyone thought was possible.”

If you’re a senior energy executive and would like to join the conversation, take action now to join the Alliance, which in addition to the annual Summit convenes quarterly working group meetings on critical topics and regular meet-and-greets between startups and utilities.

As Steve Smith, President of National Grid Partners and Interim Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer at National Grid, put it during the entrepreneurs’ panel: “Our industry has to employ a growth mindset if we’re going to build energy capacity faster, cheaper and at scale.”

Our industry has to employ a growth mindset if we’re going to build energy capacity faster, cheaper and at scale.