📰 Op-ed in Dagens Industri on batteries in bomb shelters

I'm writing together with Jonas Birgersson in Dagens Industri on the energy society and how a new grid would be much more robust during a war or crisis. In Dagens Industri: Batterier i alla skyddsrum, för ökad robusthet vid krig och kris.

Last year, a photo went viral online. A Ukrainian mother is putting a mask connected to an electric inhaler on her little daughter. They are sitting in a so-called Point of Invincibility, which is activated during prolonged power outages. There, electricity, heat, food, drink, and internet connectivity are available. The electricity primarily comes from generators, but increasingly, Ukrainians are starting to use lithium-ion batteries to keep critical infrastructure running during power outages. Russia has shown no regard for the civilian population, instead systematically attacking the electrical system.

For Sweden's safety both in crisis and war, we need to build a safer and more robust electrical network. This can be achieved by designing it using the same logic as for the internet.

Thousands of small electric networks interconnected with each other become incredibly robust. In times of war, it's not enough for the enemy to knock out a smaller number of larger, central points, but they would need to combat thousands of small, decentralized networks. During storms, terrorist attacks or other crises in society, it's much more difficult to achieve widespread impact.