​Ripple Hosts

​Shravan Shah

​Keeling Capital

​Vincent Gregoir

​Junction Growth Investors

​TL;DR

​Global electricity demand is surging - up over 1,000 TWh in 2024 alone - but grid infrastructure investment is falling dangerously behind. With delays, permitting hurdles, and vast interconnection backlogs, the question is: Can advanced transmission technologies meaningfully bridge the gap while we race to modernize the grid?

​Topic overview

​Why is the topic relevant?

​We are electrifying at a rapid pace. The role of electrons continues to expand across economies. Global energy demand growth is also beginning to accelerate. In 2024, electricity demand increased by more than 1,000+ TWh year-on-year (equivalent to roughly double Germany’s annual electricity consumption).

​The IEA estimates roughly 80 million kilometers of power lines will need to be added or refurbished by 2040. Despite this, we are tracking significantly below the required rate of annual grid infrastructure investment. Permitting delays and siting issues add to the challenge of expanding our grids. Meanwhile, record volumes of planned power capacity (primarily solar and wind) remain stuck in interconnection queues waiting on grid upgrades that have yet to materialize.

​Without a fit-for-purpose grid, countries will fail to unlock energy security, resilience and reliability. It’s clear we need to continue deploying technologies that help us get more out of our existing grids - but to what extent can they help bridge the gap in infrastructure upgrades?

​What’s up for discussion?

• ​The current state of grid, size of investment gap, what’s actually needed and barriers to progress

• ​Interconnection queues: bottlenecks in unlocking clean energy capacity

• ​The most promising hardware and software innovations for grid efficiency

• ​The current state of maturity and deployment of advanced transmission tech

• ​Where to prioritize advanced tech deployment for highest impact

• ​Scaling grid tech businesses - challenges and hurdles

• ​Case studies: who’s getting it right and what we can learn

• ​Policy, incentive, and market structures that could drive faster adoption

• ​Thresholds: how far tech can go without foundational grid upgrades

​Dream outcome

​A clearer assessment of grid technology solutions - what they will help achieve/unlock and what they won't.

​Who should attend?

​(1) Investors (across stages and capital stack) deploying into the theme

​(2) Founders/Operators building technologies to unclog the grid bottleneck

​(3) Individuals with views on or direct experiences with grid operators and/or challenges of grid expansion, interconnection