Of the technical advances transforming the energy business, none is potentially more important than storage. Used on a sufficient scale, it could make heat and light available to those living in subsistence conditions and radically alter the world’s energy mix.

But it is important to demolish two myths. First, the technological advances are not about to transform the energy system to the point where a large proportion of consumers defect from existing distribution systems. Second, it does not require a dramatic breakthrough to become economic.

On the first, by far the most likely next step is the integration of storage mechanisms into existing grids and other distribution systems in ways that manage peak loads and thus contribute to reducing the necessary generating capacity.