Paper Short Abstract:

This paper examines the digitization of the electric grid system. Digital aggregation of decentralized production units provides forms of controlling the electric grid – a natural monopoly – through programmes and algorithms, intertwining with the existing power infrastructure while reshaping it.

Paper Abstract:

Energy systems are said to be subject to a twin transition of decarbonisation and digitisation (Sareen and Müller 2023) or to three Ds: decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation (di Silvestre et al. 2018). The trend to mega wind and solar parks makes decentralisation subject to debate and to global investment, yet volatile and smaller units of power generation require a digital control in order to keep the electricity grid stable and secure. We hence see the digitisation of electricity infrastructures (e.g. through the installation of boxes aggregating several small units of power generation into a Virtual Power Plant) and at the same time the establishment of a digital infrastructure, i.e. of programmes and algorithms that tend to determine and steer energy production, transmission and sale. Through examining the way Virtual Power Plants find way into and function within the European electricity grid, I disentangle technical and economic frameworks that shape the grid we all have come to take for granted. I will show how established forms of controlling the grid – a natural monopoly characterized through increasing electricity consumption – differ from and overlap with control through applications and programmes.