When it comes to light bulb moments of bright ideas, the spotlight shines on one of the energy sector’s rising innovators: Ishneet Kaur.
“Innovation transcends introducing new technologies alone. Instead, this is about rethinking how we can transform our energy systems to meet future demands,” says Kaur, the director of innovation at National Grid Partners, the Corporate Venture Capital and Innovation arm of National Grid. This serves as one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the US—catering to more than 20 million people throughout New York and Massachusetts.
Kaur’s role coincides with the rising trend within the energy sector, where innovation is no longer just a choice but a requirement. The energy industry is under increasing pressure to evolve as the world faces skyrocketing energy demand due to the rise of data centers and artificial intelligence (AI), increasing domestic manufacturing and electrification. A report by US Department of Energy predicts that electricity demand could increase between 15-20% in the next decade. Kaur’s work significantly contributes to this change.
Bringing the Innovation Imperative to the Utilities
Utilities are designed for safety and reliability, with the day-to-day operations being the primary focus. However, the electric industry is at an inflection point, where the focus on building for tomorrow is becoming as important as business-as-usual operations.
To innovate, there is a need to adopt new technologies, tweak soft and hard incentives for utilities, and consider new business models. Innovation can be challenging because it is not a project or a technology. It is, fundamentally, a new way of thinking and doing business differently.
What makes utilities unique is that they are regulated monopolies. To illustrate, utilities are not in direct competition with one another. This makes sharing best practices easier and collaborating in ways other industries cannot. In this aspect, specialists like Kaur have been able to make a significant mark across the US utility industry.
Kaur’s dedication to industry-wide progress is displayed through her work on the Industry Innovation Survey. First conducted in 2021, it involved surveying 20 gas and electric utilities globally to foster cross-utility collaboration and provide valuable insights into budding energy technologies.
Kaur recently published a renewed Utility Innovation Survey report, with input from 219 innovation leaders across the US utility industry. This one-of-a-kind report offers a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in the energy sector. Kaur presented this work to an esteemed audience of startups, utilities, regulators, and policymakers who are leading the charge on clean energy.
Driving Growth with High-Value Strategic Projects
As part of her role as director of innovation, Kaur has many responsibilities covering the end-to-end innovation process. Firstly, she leads the work on consolidating and providing an assessment of the existing innovation portfolio. As any big corporation knows, understanding the ongoing efforts across the organization is key to removing siloes, encouraging cross-collaboration across teams, and aligning them toward strategic goals.
Understanding the current portfolio feeds into building innovation priorities for the next year, which ensures efficient resource use and enables the strategically aligned projects to have a clear route for scaling up. This is crucial, as startups can often get stuck in proof-of-concept (POC) purgatory.
Kaur is also tasked with delivering high-impact strategic innovation projects. These projects involve developing new products and business models that wield emerging technologies to achieve strategic and financial goals.
Charging Ahead: Kaur’s Vision for a Powered Tomorrow
Kaur’s role embodies an advanced viewpoint that revamps how the energy sector handles the complexities of modern advancements. With each initiative—from dismantling silos to pioneering innovative projects—Kaur is helping drive the industry’s evolution.
Through the facilitation of collaboration and shared insights, Kaur’s strategies are setting the pace for what comes next in a sector ready for industry-changing shifts. “We are not merely adapting to changes; we are bringing them. The future of energy demands audacious innovation and bold steps forward,” notes Ishneet Kaur.
