In this issue

Welcome to the latest issue of Future Power Technology.

In this issue, we cast our gaze to the future, to see what could lie in store, good and ill, for the world’s energy industries. Beginning in China, where power supply shortages have triggered domestic blackouts, and concluding with a discussion of the reliability of renewable power in general, the future of the world’s energy mix looks equal parts perilous and encouraging.

We ask if the Chinese energy industry is already so influential that when China sneezes, the world catches a cold.

On a more local level, we investigate the city of the future, an oft-promised ideal of smart technology and efficient power systems that has, predictably, struggled to be realised in practice.

Elsewhere, we dive into the depths of two exciting technological innovations, hydropower and smart batteries, to see how these similarly high-potential power products could be delivered. We speak to industry leaders Eddie Rich and Sonia Quiterio to learn more about realising these lofty ambitions, and interview Oxford University spin-out Brill Power about its own innovative approaches to overcoming the challenges associated with batteries. To read about all this and more, read on.

JP Casey, editor