The world’s energy systems are changing. Driven by strong demand for clean energy and mounting impacts from climate-driven extreme weather, entities around the world are setting ambitious goals to reduce emissions from the fossil fuels that have powered economic growth for over a century.

Electricity will drive global decarbonization efforts, with renewable energy both reducing electric sector emissions and powering new loads from transportation and buildings. But the grid must undergo profound changes for this to occur.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be key to transforming the grid from an aging supplier of commodity electricity to an intelligent “system of systems” that produces optimized outcomes. Unlike today, the future grid must be clean, resilient, dynamic, and smart – what we term the “fast and flexible” grid.

This piece takes a first look at the future of energy and addresses questions such as:

• Why clean electricity is key to global decarbonization and how the grid will evolve
• How AI capabilities will enable decarbonization across electricity, buildings, and transportation
• The role of energy storage on a fast, flexible grid
• The importance of efficient, transparent electricity markets – and why policy makers must act now to bring them about over the next decade