On both sides of the Atlantic, energy prices are outpacing groceries as a driver of household inflation. While geopolitical shocks such as the war in Iran dominate the headlines, the power supercycle is structural and rising energy prices won’t wait for electricity ?grids to catch up.
The deployment of data centers and wider electrification of energy use is driving up global power demand. Global consumption will rise by 19% between 2025 and 2030 to hit 33,600 TWh, and data center electricity consumption is projected to nearly double, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Traditional solutions to electricity load growth, like centralized power generation and grid infrastructure, require massive capital investment, years of permitting and construction, and a stable supply chain. Dwindling grid capacity and grid connection delays are holding back developers, constraining growth.
Addressing the power supercycle through traditional means ?will result in consumers footing the bill through utility rate increases, subsidies, and higher prices for infrastructure that will not be operational this decade.
Globally, $5.8 trillion is forecast ?to be invested in grid upgrades through 2035, but rising equipment costs and geopolitical supply chain fragmentation mean spending will not eliminate ?bottlenecks, JP Morgan said earlier this year. Permitting and grid connection amplifies the problem. U.S. wait times for grid connections continue to rise with the median power generation project waiting ?five years from grid connection request to commissioning in 2025, government data show.
A large portion of U.S. transmission projects planned for the next decade are already delayed with supply chain ?constraints among the leading causes, the U.S. National Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) said in January. Key equipment like transformers and gas turbines have long lead times and equipment suppliers may be more inclined to build capacity incrementally after past overbuilding. The status quo grid buildout methodology cannot support a national security imperative.
Residential solar paired with battery storage represents an alternative solution that can be deployed rapidly, at competitive costs, and backed ?up by a track record of reliability.
Historically, the value proposition of residential solar was supported through ?tax credit subsidies and net metering policies that allow electricity exports to the grid at retail electricity prices. These policies are being abandoned as the value proposition is shifting. Economics are now supported by ?reduced exposure ?to rising power prices and participation in energy services markets through virtual power plants (VPPs). These allow consumers to earn revenue by making stored capacity available to grid operators during periods of peak demand.
These systems fundamentally shift the role of consumers in the power system. Without distributed generation, consumers have no agency over the energy costs they are funding. Electricity prices are approved through utility rate cases, and buildout costs are passed on to customer bills. Residential solar and storage break that dependency. A household can now not only reduce its draw from ?the grid during peak pricing windows but ?also dispatch stored energy into wholesale markets ?when demand is highest and earn revenue in return. Ownership of generation assets effectively converts the price-taker into a market participant.
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At the system level, the benefits compound the individual ones. VPPs aggregate distributed power capacity, adding dispatchable resources at the lowest marginal cost and fastest deployment ?timeline available. By orchestrating distributed assets during peak periods, VPPs reduce reliance on expensive peaker plants, defer substation upgrades by shaving ?local peak load below ?the threshold that triggers a capacity upgrade, and increase utilization of existing grid infrastructure at a fraction of conventional buildout cost, savings that flow back through rates to all consumers, not only participants.
This dynamic has already begun to materialize. Global battery storage deployment is soaring and U.S. residential battery attachment rates for new solar installations reached 37% nationally in 2025, up from 6% in 2020, ?figures from ?the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) show. Residential supplier Sunrun reported a 70% battery attachment rate for new customers ?in Q3 2025, up from 60% a year previous, while VPP enrolments increased by 400%.
The U.S. is not alone in this dynamic and policy tailwinds across Europe and Asia are reinforcing deployment. For example, the European Union’s ?Energy Performance of Buildings Directive mandates solar on new residential buildings while dynamic electricity pricing rules are pushing households toward pairing solar with storage, allowing them to capture the economic advantages.
