As technology and business models for electricity—generation, distribution, storage, and end use—continue to evolve at an increasing pace, it makes sense to cast a wide net for possible organizational architectures and principles for the system at all scales, to move us to the best feasible outcome in the shortest time possible, at the smallest cost. Nearly all proposals for future electricity states begin with taking many characteristics of our current system as relatively fixed, and so significantly subset the scope of consideration. In particular, the pace of technology evolution within buildings and of the relationship of buildings to the grid are generally taken to be the same as or similar to what we have today. This proposal assumes that both can and will change significantly, for the various benefits they provide to customers and others.
In its proposal, the ‘Fit Grid’ takes inspiration from how communications technology has changed over the last half century, notably in the rise of network technology. It also begins from the perspective of the building, with the idea that the purpose of the electricity grid is to serve the needs of buildings2, not the other way around. The Fit Grid is in part derived from capabilities of Local Power Distribution which is a network model of power inside of buildings; LPD ends at the building meter.