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> The next step in the process was the establishment of the nonprofit Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization

Interesting, that reminds me of IXPs. E.g. AMS-IX is one of the world's largest exchange points (shared infrastructure) and it is a non-profit.

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Maybe I'm generalizing too much - but couldn't we say that electricity generation is starting to resemble the internet more and more?

Servers (generators) that provide content, users (consumers) that want to consume it. As more and more people use things like rooftop solar - more servers are brought online, and the infrastructure needs to be updated accordingly to direct the "traffic" well.

That's exactly the idea behind the term "smart grid". Rather than a network which has a relatively static set of inputs and outputs, new nodes in either category can join the network at any time. The US is doing research on smart grids, though I don't have any real familiarity with it - would love to hear more from someone who does.

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