The biggest hurdle to a green, renewable power grid is the mismatch between fluctuating supply and demand within the market. The power grid needs an effective energy storage system, however near-future battery technologies do not appear to offer an economical/ecological solution. We propose to complement battery technologies with a distributed network of renewable energy sources, coupled to green hydrogen generation with local load balancing through the combustion of hydrogen by a novel gas turbine concept. This concept – known as rotating detonation combustion (RDC) – addresses the economic and practical challenges of GT engines while also utilizing advanced combustion technology to achieve higher thermal efficiency in a smaller and cheaper package that does not require massive investment. RDCs achieve a net increase in total pressure across the heat release (as opposed to a loss in modern systems). By implementing a grid of such devices, the individual nodes of the smart network can be optimized through big data network optimization techniques that are not feasible in more concentrated systems. The smaller scale will reduce initial capital investments, allowing for better integration in local grids and reducing the political and economic hurdles to implementation.