'Internet of energy' will help avoid power blackouts

The "internet of energy" will help stop power blackouts in the UK, the new boss of the National Grid says.

Executive director Nicola Shaw hailed a moment of "real change" in the energy industry, looking forward to increasingly intelligent use of power in homes and offices

Once appliances are online, it will be possible to coordinate them so that they are not all using power at the same time. This could stop 30 to 50 per cent of major energy fluctuations, she told the BBC.

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"Smart" appliances could also help with the fluctuations in availability inherent with renewable power sources. A washing machine could be turned on only when it was sunny, for example.

Shaw said flexible pricing would be key. One energy provider in Cornwall already offers a "sunshine tariff" that tries to persuade households to use cheap solar power when the sun is shining, says the BBC.

She also hailed the rise of renewable energy generated at homes and offices across the country, saying: "We are at a moment of real change in the energy industry.

"From a historic perspective, we created energy in big generating organisations that sent power to houses and their businesses. Now we are producing energy in those places - mostly with solar power.

"All of that is a real revolution… a smart energy revolution that's changing the way we think about energy across the country."

Despite her enthusiasm for green energy, Shaw added that more investment in gas-fired power stations was needed.

Listed on the stock exchange in London, the formerly state-run National Grid now runs gas and electricity networks in the north-eastern US, as well as the UK