A decarbonized utilities industry is the epitome of sustainability. Though the world is far from fully achieving it, it’s no longer a pipe dream.
These seven electrifying innovations are powering progress in this space.
1. Agrivoltaics
Agrivoltaics marries agriculture with solar photovoltaics, or solar power. The idea converts cropland and pastures into renewable power plants by integrating solar panels into the crop land, creating a mutually beneficial situation for both food growers and solar developers.
The concept allows farmers and ranchers to reap greater yields, conserve water, generate more revenue through lease agreements, access to clean electricity more easily and market their products as sustainable. The solar panels can also provide shade for plants, further facilitating growth. This business model provides developers with more options to initiate community solar projects and contribute to decarbonizing electricity grids.
2. Modern Waste Incineration
Unlike traditional incineration methods that aim to reduce municipal solid waste to ashes, the modern approach involves energy generation. It utilizes the extreme temperatures generated by combustion to boil water and produce high-pressure steam, which fuels the turbine of a generator that produces electricity.
Modern incineration controls pollution and promotes circularity. Specialized furnaces have scrubbers to remove acid gases, activated carbon to collect heavy metals and advanced filters to capture virtually all particulates. Bottom ash gets repurposed into construction materials.
3. Second-Life Battery Energy Storage
Aging electric vehicle (EV) batteries are getting a new lease on life as stationary energy storage systems. This circular business model is eco-friendly on many levels. It maximizes the value of these declining devices by delaying the need for energy-intensive battery recycling by several years, minimizing electronic waste and reducing global demand for lithium.
MarketsandMarkets projects the global second-life EV battery market to grow from approximately 25-30 gigawatt-hours in 2025 to 330-350 gigawatt-hours by 2030. The larger the market becomes, the more beneficial it is to the environment.
4. Microgrids
The rising adoption of microgrids promotes resilience and energy self-sufficiency. These localized power networks can simultaneously draw power from the main grid and generate electricity from renewable resources independently. They use batteries to store excess power, avoiding waste. Smart controllers optimize usage efficiency and cost by managing loads and mitigating outages, especially during natural disasters.
The U.S. Department of Energy predicted that the nation’s microgrid capacity could reach 10 GW in 2025, up from just 4.4 GW by the end of 2022.
5. Hydro Excavation
Conventional excavation activities in construction can cause all sorts of service interruptions, particularly in urban and suburban areas, by accidentally damaging subterranean water, electric, sewer, fuel and telephone lines. Using high-pressure water instead of industrial machinery can prevent such disruptions when digging a hole.
The high-pressure water used by hydro excavation trucks typically ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 pound-force per square inch, which is powerful enough to break up compacted soil — but not enough to damage underground infrastructure. The excavated waste ends up in a tank, making this innovative process much cleaner.
6. Predictive Asset Maintenance
Artificial intelligence (AI) has numerous applications in the utilities industry, and constant equipment health monitoring is a particularly impactful one. AI models can analyze sensor data to spot weaknesses in infrastructure, pinpointing causes for concern and scheduling repairs before the issues result in failures.
Machine learning is also helpful in grid planning. Identifying which equipment to modernize and prioritize can help boost capacity and enhance resilience during extreme weather events.
7. Carbon Capture
This ingenious technology collects the carbon dioxide spewed by industrial sources — such as coal plants — preventing the emissions from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. Traditional carbon capture and storage methods sequester the gas and keep it dormant for the foreseeable future, while specialized versions can remove the CO2 already in the sky.
Detractors argue that carbon capture isn’t a viable climate solution, criticizing its inefficiency and high cost. These statements are valid since the world’s carbon capture and storage capacity had exceeded 50 metric tons by the first quarter of 2025.
Still, it is the most viable option for significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of energy-hungry industries that are difficult to decarbonize. The tech is maturing and should make a meaningful impact in the coming years once more projects go live.
The Utilities Industry Is on the Path to Sustainability
Decarbonization is a long process. However, these innovations are helping the utilities industry reach these clean energy goals. There’s a future where the environmental ills brought by fossil fuel consumption are no longer as menacing as they are today, and these innovations will make it a reality sooner rather than later.
