Finally, both of these changes are being enabled through the integration of smart grid technology in the power transmission and distribution grid, which moves not only electrons but also information effectively through our energy networks.

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We take off-the-shelf IT and Internet technology and transform the power grid and electricity transmission lines into an energy Internet.

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The fastest-growing technology is grid-connected solar electric power, which saw a 53% increase in installed capacity during 2009.

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And yet, that view would obscure a storm of new innovation and technology deployment which may well radically change the power grid forever.

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Chowdhury, who formerly headed up IT for the Grameen Bank, describes what happened in off-the-grid Bangladeshi villages when her team put solar power and mobile technology into the hands of illiterate women.

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Most utilities maintain that they will be unable to deal with local, renewable energy that provides more than 15 percent of the power supply because any more would destabilize the grid, according to Shalom Flank, the chief technology officer of Pareto Energy, a Washington, D.

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Fortunately, the power challenge is not new to technology providers who have experienced the result of higher consumption and grid utilization.

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Now GE sells wind turbines, smart grid systems and oil and gas technology around the world, as well as the big gas power turbines that made it an industry leader in the U.S. a long time ago.

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