A Quantum Sieve for the Power Grid
Every day, the power grid faces a puzzle: which power plants should be switched on to reliably meet demand without breaking the bank? For 15 generators and 24 hours, the number of possible schedules exceeds 2.3×$$10^{108}$$, more than the number of atoms in the visible universe. No classical supercomputer can sift through all of them, so dispatchers settle for a compromise.