# Power grid

By [hkks](https://paragraph.com/@hkks) · 2022-04-06

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Last year, blackouts rolled across Texas. As a winter storm swept across the Lone Star State, inadequately protected equipment froze and stalled, leaving 11 million residents in the dark. It could have been much worse; the chief executive officer of the state’s grid [said](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-20/texas-blackout-how-the-electrical-grid-failed?sref=WesoLUpf) it was “seconds and minutes” from the kind of cataclysmic blackout that might have taken weeks or months to resolve. Even those with access to power hardly escaped scot-free. Thanks in part to Texas’ deregulated energy market, electricity costs [skyrocketed](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-20/texas-homes-slammed-with-thousand-dollar-bills-after-winter-woe?sref=WesoLUpf), with some seeing monthly bills jump from $130 to $3,000. 

In the aftermath of the crisis, sales for generators rose sharply as citizens sought to protect themselves from future blackouts. With generators running in the thousands of dollars, that solution is only available to a portion of the population. 

Creating an independent power grid orchestrated by crypto incentives could be a fruitful solution. Through a mix of generators, solar panels, and even wind turbines, it would be possible to create a “microgrid” that acts as either fail-safe or genuine alternative. Houses that generated excess electricity could distribute it locally, earning tokens. Those that leveraged this surplus could make payments, all within a closed system. As a benefit, much of this infrastructure could tilt toward cleaner, renewable energy sources. 

While Texas might be the best market to experiment with such an endeavor, the increasing probability of climatic disruption means that an operation like this would have global demand.

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*Originally published on [hkks](https://paragraph.com/@hkks/power-grid)*