Redefining Energy

Last year, the nuclear industry experienced something close to a gold rush. SMRs — Small Modular Reactors — became the hottest story in energy. Private capital poured in, valuations exploded, and the industry produced an impressive collection of truly bombastic promises. The backdrop is undeniably powerful: electrification is accelerating, geopolitics are reshaping energy markets, and the world needs reliable, 24/7 clean power. Nuclear has rarely enjoyed such formidable tailwinds. So, what could possibly go wrong? Gerard and Laurent bring in Andrei Utkin, Associate Director at S&P Global Energy, and one of the more independent observers of the nuclear industry, to separate the nuclear opportunity from the nuclear hype. Because there is a problem. The Western nuclear supply chain has not exactly covered itself in glory this century when it comes to delivering large reactors on time and on budget. Governments are nevertheless pushing ahead — rightly so. We are particularly interested to see how smaller designs…

The current datacenter buildout is the biggest GDP bet in America since the railroads 150 years ago. We have never seen a frenzy quite like this. The system is running on overdrive—and the cracks are starting to show. While Anthropic and OpenAI announce dizzying financing numbers, measured in the trillions, the markets are beginning to cough: force majeure—effectively a default—at Oracle’s Jupiter datacenter; SB Energy abandoning its IPO; private credit funds restricting redemptions; and certain neoclouds’ bonds being priced as riskier than those of Zambia or Angola. And still, the buildout goes on. Yes, half of the announced datacenters may never be built. Yes, local politics are turning increasingly toxic, with moratoriums spreading. And yet the buildout continues—and could move even faster if only the supply chain could keep up. So, who should we believe: the bulls or the bears? Gerard and Laurent bring on one of the leading specialists in datacenter development, Eugene McGrane, Executive Managing…

The global market for Virtual Power Plants is assessed around 100GW (+/- 20GW). It is a 7bnUSD expected to grow at a CAGR above 20% in the next 5 years to reach 40bnUSD within a decade. VPP are a digitally coordinated flexible network of distributed resources: cheaper than central stations. They manage behind the meter assets like Solar, batteries, HVAC, EV… VPP is a term invented 30 years ago by US economist and finance scholar Dr Shimon Awerbuch, who died 20 years ago in a light plane crash over the Alps. Only aged 51, he leaves a great legacy. His foundational work in 1996 was called “The Virtual Utility” where he demonstrated that Electricity generation must be treated like a financial portfolio. He proved that Renewables (even if they were very expensive at the time) were a powerful hedge against fossil fuel volatility. In our series about how digital is transforming the how we track, trade, and optimise energy, Gerard and Laurent have invited Marc Rühs, CEO Next Kraftwerke, the world largest VPP with…

Joseph J. Romm (1960–2026) was an MIT-trained physicist who became one of the most prominent voices in the U.S. climate movement after serving as Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy in the 1990s. He founded the Climate Progress blog, authored ten books—including The Hype About Hydrogen and Hell and High Water—and was named a Time “Hero of the Environment” and one of Rolling Stone’s “100 People Who Are Changing America” in 2009. Later, as a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, Romm continued to challenge what he regarded as dead-end technologies and costly distractions, including hydrogen, carbon offsets, and carbon capture. Romm died unexpectedly at the age of 66 on September 14, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Michael Barnard and Joe shared a long history of friendship and collaboration, strengthened by a memorable conversation 18 months ago following the release of the second…

In our series: How AI is revolutionising Energy, Laurent and Gerard dive deep into the intricate corner of Energy Management system for large industrial clusters. You would believe that legacy providers such as Siemens, Schneider Electric or Hitachi would provide such solutions. They are not. Indeed, they provide legacy Scada systems which are hardware linked and bottom up. There is no glue to optimise them as a group and deliver access to Energy markets. Two young Belgian engineers have decided to address this blind spot and come up with a new generation of software: AI powered EMS. That is what Companion Energy has achieved. We bring in its CEO Thomas Vyncke. Most of the European energy conversation still focuses on front-of-the-meter flexibility: batteries, renewables and other assets participating in wholesale and balancing markets. Thomas’ thesis is that an equally important — and much less developed — opportunity sits behind the meter, inside large industrial and commercial companies. The problem is…

There is simply too much greenwashing happening. Environmental reporting has become a meaningless bureaucracy feeding a fictional reality through glossy reports that nobody reads anymore. But things are changing; the impact of climate change (heatwaves, floods) is hitting back at governments trying to ignore it. Some BigTech, historically in favour of renewable energy are now busy building the biggest gas plants in the world for their datacenters, while pretending still to be on track for their “net zero” commitments. They maintain the fiction through carbon accounting tricks, maximisation of loopholes and heavy PR campaigns run by the American Petroleum Institute and McKinsey. Fortunately, there are a lot of companies which start to see the direction of travel: a more granular way of accounting for Energy and Emissions. Not by the year, where summer solar can be accounted for winter consumption, but by the month and soon by the hour. Hourly matching is new, tough, but far from unsurmountable. That is what…

Where Are BESS Making Money? Gerard and Laurent had the pleasure of welcoming Ed Porter Director Europe at Modo Energy for an insightful discussion on battery profitability and the evolving economics of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Modo Energy is a fast-growing data analytics and market intelligence platform helping energy professionals benchmark asset performance, forecast revenues and evaluate investments in renewable energy and grid-scale battery storage. Ed outlines three stages in the development of a battery market: Stage 1 – Pre-saturation: Batteries can achieve attractive payback periods, sometimes as short as three years, primarily through ancillary services. Stage 2 – Wholesale market competition: As ancillary service revenues become more competitive, batteries increasingly rely on wholesale market opportunities, as seen in Australia, Texas and Great Britain. Stage 3 – Sophisticated grid services: Once wholesale markets become saturated, batteries move towards more advanced and…

There is no shortage of discussion about the role of AI in the energy transition. Yet while many talk about the future of intelligent grids, only a handful of industry leaders are delivering solutions at scale. One of them is Alberto Méndez Rebollo—an executive, investor, and entrepreneur dedicated to accelerating the energy transition. Throughout his career, Alberto has held senior leadership positions at Siemens Gamesa, Vattenfall, XCharge, and other organizations, overseeing multi-million-euro initiatives across renewable energy, power grids, and electric mobility. Today, as Co-Founder and CEO of Plexigrid, he is leading the development of next-generation technology designed to prepare electricity networks for a rapidly changing energy landscape. Plexigrid, a deep-tech company headquartered in Sweden and Spain, develops intelligent software that helps utilities optimize and digitize electricity distribution networks. At the core of its platform is a real-time digital twin of the distribution grid,…

Recorded at the SolarPower Summit in Brussels this conversation between Laurent Segalen and Jonathan Gifford examines why batteries have become one of the fastest growing and most strategically important technologies shaping the global energy transition. Jonathan Gifford is the co-founder of Climate Copy and a wonderful storyteller. Laurent unpacks how rapid battery innovation is transforming electric mobility, renewable energy markets, charging infrastructure, and the future operation of electricity grids. It has been only nine years since Hornsdale (Tesla – South Australia) 100MW-130MWh made of EV batteries cracked the code. Six months later in China the Jiangsu Zhenjiang first 100MW LFP battery was installed. In Europe and the US, the first large LFP batteries were installed in 2021-2022. Now, LFP has a 95% market share in BESS around the world. For EVs, it is 55% LFP – 45% NMC (80% in China). By the end of 2026, we will reach 500GW globally and great forecasters like Jan Rosenow expect 1,000GW by 2030.…

Michael Barnard welcomes Cornelis Plet, CTO of Grid Systems Integration at GE Vernova, about the technologies reshaping modern power systems and the practical realities of building an electrified future. High-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission, once a specialist solution for narrow use cases, is now becoming a standard building block of the global grid. Increasingly standardised designs are enabling large-scale transfer of renewable power over long distances, yet the industry is still grappling with how to align control systems and operational standards across different vendors and regions. A central theme of the conversation is the rise of grid-forming inverters. As traditional synchronous generation retires and is replaced by wind, solar, and batteries, the grid is shifting from mechanical inertia to power electronics. While technical progress is rapid and new grid codes are emerging, true interoperability between systems remains a work in progress, with different implementations still complicating…

In March 2026, Laurent was invited by Jan Rosenow at Oriel College, Oxford, for a public debate on the energy transition. Held in the College's historic library, the discussion brought together contrasting perspectives on one of today's defining challenges. Jan Rosenow, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy, is renowned for his work on energy efficiency, electrification, and the transition to net-zero energy systems. Laurent opened by introducing the "Aristotelian Triangle" of the energy debate—Ethos, Logos, and Pathos—arguing that values, evidence, and emotion all shape how people interpret energy issues. Responding to Jan's distinction between energy addition and energy transition, Laurent made two key points. First, history shows that energy forecasts have repeatedly underestimated transformative innovations, from shale gas and LEDs to solar, electric vehicles, batteries, and AI-driven data centres. His conclusion: humility is essential when predicting structural change. Second, Laurent presented his…

During Intersolar (The Smart E), Gerard sat down with Dr Chuan Lu, CEO Astronergy and Director of Chint Group to discuss, from the inside the Chinese Solar revolution. 2026 was Dr Lu and Chint 15th participation to that massive European Exhibit that epitomise the growth of renewables. 18 halls the size of a football fields and more than 100,000 visitors. CHINT is a vertically integrated Chinese energy conglomerate whose solar business is profitable, mid-growth, and margin-focused rather than driven by hyper-scale manufacturing. Its portfolio includes Astronergy (modules), CPS (inverters), CHINT Solar (EPC/IPP), and CHINT ANNENG (residential PV), generating approximately $650–700 million in operating profit and implying a valuation of $12–16 billion. Annual growth of 15–20% trails peers but reflects CHINT's focus on profitability, diversification, and disciplined capital allocation. The result is a stable, globally active, Tier 1-certified solar group that operates more like an integrated industrial…

Laurent and Gerard set out to explore one of the biggest ideas emerging alongside the excitement around the SpaceX IPO: datacenters in space. To refuel those satellites emerged the concept of an orbital grid where beams are directed to provide electricity to space crafts, like a gas station in space. It may sound like science fiction, but it is rapidly becoming a medium-term engineering challenge being tackled by some of the brightest minds of our generation. One of those pioneers is Andrew Rush, CEO of Star Catcher, a company building what will become the world's first orbital energy grid—a network of satellites capable of wirelessly transmitting power to other spacecraft on demand hundreds of kilometres away. Andrew is the man for the mission: he previously served on the Technology, Innovation and Engineering Committee of the NASA Advisory Council, helping advise NASA's Administrator, the Office of the Chief Technologist, and its Mission Directorates. Before founding Star Catcher, he successfully built and…

In June 2026, Gerard and Laurent recorded a live episode at DLA Piper’s Charging Up Capital 2026 Global Energy and Digital Investments Forum with Rowan Parkhouse, Managing Director at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). CIP has emerged as one of the world's leading specialist energy transition investors, ranking among the top infrastructure fund managers globally by both assets under management and fundraising. So, what is CIP’s Playbook? We explore how infrastructure investing has evolved over the past five years—what has become easier, what has become harder, and where the biggest opportunities now lie. The conversation covers data centres, batteries, grids, transmission, renewables, EVs, independent power producers, and CIP's relationship with Ørsted. We also discuss some of the most important questions shaping energy infrastructure today: the impact of AI-driven power demand, whether grid constraints have become a bigger bottleneck than generation, the changing political priorities around energy…

Gerard and Laurent first welcomed David Scaysbrook to the podcast in Episode 66, back in January 2022, for a conversation about the future of 24/7 power. Four years later, it felt like the right moment to reconnect and take stock of how profoundly the market has evolved. Since then, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has continued to establish itself as one of the leading specialist investors in the energy transition, orchestrating and deploying billions of dollars of capital through project finance structures and platform companies. As of today, the firm has participated in more than $27 billion of transactions, developed or acquired over 240 projects, and built a portfolio exceeding 40 GW across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Our discussion traces Quinbrook's own transformation alongside that of the broader energy landscape. We revisit the firm's strategic exit from wind generation, marked by the sale of its Scout platform to Brookfield in 2023 for more than $1 billion, and explore…

In May 2026, our co-host Laurent Segalen had the privilege of chairing a high-profile panel hosted by SolarPower Europe at its annual Solar Power Summit in Brussels, one of the leading gatherings for the European solar and energy storage sectors. In this episode, we bring you highlights from the hour-long conversation, featuring two distinguished industry leaders: Fredrik Andrén Sandberg from RWE and Hanna Kunzmann from EQT. Between them, their organisations oversee more than 10 GW of battery storage projects either in operation or under development, offering a unique perspective on the realities of financing and scaling storage assets. The discussion addressed one of the most important questions facing the energy transition today: the bankability of battery storage investments. As battery deployment accelerates across Europe and beyond, investors, developers, and policymakers are increasingly focused on understanding the risks and opportunities that will determine the sector's long-term attractiveness. The…

Gerard and Laurent welcome Michel Boutouil, co-founder and CEO of Polarise, a leading European AI infrastructure provider and NVIDIA Cloud Partner based in Berlin. After discussing about what happens outside of a datacenter, it is time to dive inside one. Polarise is one of the few genuinely European NeoCloud companies — essentially a European counterpart to CoreWeave — specializing in GPU infrastructure for AI inference. Through its partnership with NVIDIA, Polarise designs its datacenters around the GPU rack itself, using liquid cooling from the outset rather than starting with a traditional real estate-first approach. The company has already developed AI factories in Germany, Norway and the UK. In the conversation, we explore the growing commoditization of large language models and why the real long-term value may lie in AI factories — facilities that are fundamentally different from conventional datacenters. Given Europe’s notoriously long grid-connection timelines, Polarise focuses on refurbishing…

At the Eurelectric Power Summit 2026 in Helsinki, Laurent had the opportunity to sit down with Catherine MacGregor, CEO of ENGIE and Vice President of Eurelectric, for a wide-ranging discussion on the key issues shaping Europe's energy future. We began with the themes at the heart of Eurelectric’s agenda this year: security of supply, affordability, competitiveness, and the challenges and opportunities created by the rapid growth of data centres. One of the most striking insights from our conversation was that Europe does not have an electrification technology problem — it has an electrification coordination problem. This was also the central conclusion of the report Power Couples: Enhancing Industrial Competitiveness through Electrification, launched by Eurelectric and Accenture at Power Summit 2026. The report finds that electrification projects rarely fail because technology is unavailable. Instead, they stall when power economics, grid access, infrastructure delivery, financing structures, and industrial…

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have made significant progress in recent years. Yet they remain largely top-down institutions shaped by policy priorities. When trillions of dollars in investment decisions are at stake, investors and operators increasingly turn to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and its team of more than 400 specialists. Why does BNEF command such trust? BNEF combines Bloomberg’s unparalleled market data capabilities with deep expertise in batteries, solar, electric vehicles, and electrification. Unlike many international agencies, BNEF operates without a political mandate or advocacy agenda. Its bottom-up analysis provides investors with a more practical view of market realities than traditional top-down forecasts. In this episode, Gerard and Laurent welcome Albert Cheung, CEO of BNEF, to discuss the findings of the New Energy Outlook 2026. The discussion begins with a review of NEO 2020. BNEF was notably accurate in forecasting…

Gerard and Laurent have the pleasure of welcoming Fintan Slye, CEO of NESO — Great Britain’s National Energy System Operator. In a lively and wide-ranging discussion, we explored NESO’s governance and its critical role across the British energy system: from real-time system operation — balancing supply and demand every second — to whole-system planning, market design, and transmission network operation. We covered an extraordinary breadth of topics: balancing costs, electricity prices for consumers, energy security, and the challenge of delivering Power 2030 in a system increasingly reliant on renewables. We discussed batteries, the evolution of balancing markets, the explosive growth of datacenters, and the ever-growing grid connection queue — and, above all, how to keep the entire system stable and efficient through this transformation. One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation focused on datacenters. NESO is currently facing more than 100GW of connection requests, while Fintan estimates that…

The global auto industry is splitting into two very different worlds — what legendary auto expert Michael Dunne calls “a tale of two countries.” Dunne, CEO of Dunne Insights LLC, has spent decades at the centre of the industry, including leadership roles as President of General Motors Indonesia and Managing Director of JD Power China. On one side stands the United States, increasingly resembling a modern-day Cuba: a market dominated by oversized, fuel-hungry SUVs aimed at a shrinking audience, while legacy automakers squeeze the last profits from internal combustion engines. Last year alone, Detroit’s Big Three wrote off more than $50 billion in EV investments. On the other side is China, moving at extraordinary speed and scale. The recent Beijing Auto Show showcased the country’s relentless innovation: 38 hectares of exhibition space — roughly 50 football fields — featuring 1,451 vehicles, including 181 world debuts, and attracting 1.3 million visitors, with only 65,000 coming from overseas. It is no longer…

The BESS market is growing at a phenomenal pace. You would think battery management is becoming easier. The reality? It is becoming increasingly complex. Between data risks, a growing number of suppliers, vertically disintegrated component chains, and constantly evolving software stacks, investors can quickly lose control of their battery fleets. Only a handful of companies truly operate in the fast-maturing field of battery analytics. And we are not talking about market optimisation focused on financial returns, but deep predictive analytics: understanding what happens inside the system itself, with expertise in battery health, performance, and safety. Laurent and Gerard have the privilege of welcoming Stephan Rohr, CEO of TWAICE, one of Germany’s leading battery analytics companies.TWAICE has become a major player in recent years: more than 100 employees, including battery scientists, chemists, software engineers, and data scientists, with operations across Europe, the US, and Asia. The company has raised…

Where is Climate Tech heading? Certainly not dead — but constantly reinventing itself. So much so that you begin to wonder whether the label itself has outlived its original meaning. Laurent and Gerard welcome Kim Zou, co-founder and CEO of Sightline Climate, the data and research platform mapping the climate-tech economy, and author of some of the sector’s most influential newsletters, including CTVC and the newer Powerstack. Sightline has become essential reading for investors, utilities, corporates, and policymakers trying to understand where capital is flowing and how the energy system is evolving. Together, they explore how Climate Tech has transformed over the past decade. Decarbonisation alone is no longer the central narrative. Today, AI, energy security, and industrial resilience dominate the conversation — often pushing sustainability itself into the background. The discussion traces how funding has shifted from venture capital toward infrastructure and large-scale project finance. The spotlight…

The power system is aging and poorly equipped to handle the rapid, large-scale shift toward renewables. According to Philipp Schröder, CEO of 1KOMMA5°, the real solutions lie “behind the meter.” Gerard and Laurent sit down with Schröder to unpack what it will take to unlock the so-called “Behind the Meter” revolution. Schröder is among a small group of European founders aiming to build a vertically integrated, consumer-focused clean energy company—something akin to a European hybrid of Tesla Energy and Sunrun. His approach combines hardware (such as solar PV systems, home batteries, heat pumps, and EV chargers), installation networks, intelligent software (including IoT-driven energy management like “Heartbeat”), and active participation in energy markets. Software is becoming increasingly critical. Grid management and pricing systems remain outdated and inefficient, especially in Germany, where reform has been slow due to entrenched interests and the slow deployment of smart meters. By contrast, countries…

Gerard and Laurent welcome Tinne Van der Straeten, CEO of WindEurope—the leading voice of the wind industry in Europe, representing more than 600 members across the entire value chain. Tinne brings a distinctive perspective to the discussion. As Belgium’s Minister for Energy during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she experienced an energy crisis firsthand. Her background in policymaking offers a different vantage point from that of investors, shaped by the practical realities and trade-offs of government decision-making. The conversation highlights that, despite ongoing challenges, wind energy continues to expand rapidly across Europe, with €45 billion in final investment decisions recorded in 2025. There is now a clear opportunity to repower first-generation onshore turbines, which could double installed capacity and potentially triple electricity generation. Offshore wind also stands out as a major growth area, with the North Sea remaining the central hub, while the Baltic Sea is developing steadily…

Ember released its 2026 Global Electricity Review (GER26) last week—an extraordinary report showing that 100% of new global electricity generation has been met by renewables. At the same time, the decade’s “twin energy shocks” (Russia in 2022 and Hormuz in 2026) are accelerating existing trends. What do the latest numbers tell us—and what do they mean? Laurent and Gerard are joined by a great friend of the show, Kingsmill Bond, Lead Energy Strategist at Ember, to break it all down. They begin with the GER’s key findings, looking closely at China, the United States, Europe, and India. The figures are striking: in 2025, wind and solar alone accounted for all net global power growth—roughly equivalent to Japan’s total electricity consumption. And even that may be an underestimate, given likely gaps in data from Africa and behind-the-meter generation. From there, the discussion shifts from long-term trends to sudden shocks. These shocks act as accelerators. Consumers, responding quickly, are installing rooftop…

In episode 219, we analysed the relationship between hyperscalers and US utilities from the hyperscaler perspective. To complete the picture, we revisit the debate from the utility’s point of view. Gerard and Laurent welcome Rajiv Bazaj, VP of Solutions Sales at Constellation, to understand how utilities approach this rapidly evolving landscape. Spun out of Exelon a few years ago, Constellation was initially seen as the “ugly duckling,” but it was sitting on a major advantage: a large nuclear fleet. What was considered a liability in the 2010s has become a strategic asset as hyperscalers search for clean, reliable 24/7 power. The acquisition of Calpine and its large CCGT fleet turned Constellation into the largest US utility in terms of capacity, with around 60 GW (half nuclear, half gas) and roughly 200 TWh of annual generation—placing the company at the centre of discussions with hyperscalers and data centre developers. Constellation’s approach remains cautious. The company is only gradually moving into…

Laurent and Gerard sit down with Paul O’Donnell, Partner at SchrodersGreencoat, a fund manager that has invested more than €13 billion and controls over 400 renewable energy assets across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Paul has spent 17 years at Greencoat and became Partner in 2022, following Schroders’ acquisition of the platform, which itself was acquired by Nuveen in 2026. Greencoat has a distinctive structure, as it manages listed vehicles—historically known as YieldCos—designed to provide stable dividends to investors through long-term infrastructure assets. The discussion begins with a deep dive into the evolution of the renewable energy sector over the past 10–15 years. The market has shifted from portfolios primarily backed by government-supported contracts to a more dynamic growth strategy built on active portfolio management, trading, power purchase agreements (PPAs) with hyperscalers, and the hybridisation of assets. A key milestone in this evolution has been the push toward vertical integration,…

Gerard is invited by Ana Conde from PVcase to make the case for solar paired with storage as the economic foundation of the future energy system. We are in the midst of a technological revolution driven by electrification and AI. But building the energy system that can power this shift requires more than adding new capacity — it demands system-level thinking, new coordination mechanisms, and new financial models to ensure a smooth transition. They explore how solar moved from a niche technology to the backbone of modern energy infrastructure and why pairing it with storage is no longer optional for project bankability and long-term competitiveness. They discuss how grid outages act as warning signals, exposing the fragility of legacy infrastructure, and what that implies for resilience in an increasingly electrified world. The conversation also examines the economic incentives, institutional inertia, and behavioural forces that resist technological change — and how innovative business models are beginning to…

Laurent and Gerard speak with Dr. Michal Meidan, Head of China Energy Research at the China Energy Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, about the profound transformation reshaping China’s energy system. At the heart of the discussion is the country’s pivot from “molecules” to “electrons” — a structural shift from fossil fuels toward electrification powered by renewables, batteries, and electric mobility. This transition is not just about decarbonization; it represents a broader industrial and technological reconfiguration with global consequences. At the same time, China remains central to fossil fuel markets: it is the world's largest fossil fuel importer and is set to maintain that position for the rest of this decade and beyond. Still the recent events in the Strait of Hormuz have vindicated China’s energy policy of diversification, investment and strategic storage. China’s approach reflects a distinctive “dual track” model in which command-and-control planning coexists with…

Gerard and Laurent host Ira Joseph, a leading expert on gas and LNG markets at the Columbia Center on Global Energy, to explore how the Middle East conflict is reshaping the industry. In normal times, LNG supply is led by Qatar, the U.S., and Australia, with prices anchored to benchmarks like Henry Hub, TTF, and JKM. Before the war, markets were relatively well supplied, keeping prices stable. Three weeks into the conflict, that balance has shifted. Brent crude has climbed to about $110, European gas (TTF) to around $20/MMBtu, while U.S. Henry Hub remains near $3—highlighting growing regional divergence driven by infrastructure and trade flows. Two views have emerged: the White House sees a temporary disruption, while analysts like Jeff Currie and James Gutman argue this is a structural supply shock—captured by the idea that “you can’t print molecules.” The impact is uneven. Europe is highly exposed, Asia faces rising competition for cargoes, and emerging markets risk being priced out. The U.S. remains…

Six years after her last appearance on the podcast (Episode 28, 15 June 2020), Natasha Luther-Jones returns to join Laurent and Gerard for a lively catch-up on how both her career and the energy sector have evolved. What began with her being dubbed the “Queen of PPA” has expanded into a far broader role — prompting the hosts to crown her the “Energy Empress” as she now operates across the full spectrum of global energy and infrastructure. Natasha reflects on the evolution as the Global co-chair in the Energy & Natural Resources practice at DLA Piper, describing how client demand has shifted from single-asset transactions to complex, multi-technology, cross-border platforms. The market has matured significantly, with renewables now firmly established as mainstream infrastructure and capital becoming more disciplined and selective. A major growth area is battery energy storage systems (BESS), which have moved from being an adjunct to renewables to a core investment thesis in their own right. Storage,…

While Gerard is fixing his knee, Laurent invites Chris Seiple, Vice Chairman of WoodMac Power & Renewables group, to try to make sense of the scale of the coming power demand surge and the strain it is placing on today’s US market structures. AI-driven datacenter growth is pushing the US power system into uncharted territory. Roughly 180 GW of U.S. electricity commitments tied to datacenters represent about 30% incremental demand. Hyperscaler CAPEX is exploding. Demand is accelerating far faster than new supply can come online, setting up a near-term imbalance. In response, the U.S. utility sector is preparing for a potential $1.4 trillion investment supercycle over the next five years. In regulated markets, utilities are under pressure to modernize cost-of-service models and deliver massive capital programs while keeping electricity affordable. Companies such as Duke Energy, Southern Company, Entergy, and CenterPoint Energy are planning investments that run into the hundreds of billions. In deregulated…

Last month, Gerard Reid joined Shayle Kann, Managing Partner at Energy Impact Partners, for a world class and fast-moving conversation on the state and future of Climate Tech. The discussion was organised by Carbon Equity and led by its co-founder Liza Rubinstein Malamud. Originally it featured a third guest, Will Dufton of Giant Ventures, whose contributions were fully edited for this episode (with apologies — and an open invitation to return). First strong statement: the Silicon Valley-style climate tech era of 2021–2022 is over. Gerard is clear that carbon removal and hydrogen, at least as they were framed and funded during the hype cycle, are effectively dead. What comes now is a far more grounded, infrastructure-driven view of the transition. Both guests are emphatically bullish on energy and AI. Shayle especially sees climate tech not as a standalone vertical, but as a horizontal that cuts across the entire economy. Anything that supports electrification, datacenters, and energy-hungry digital…

Lithium has doubled in three months. Copper is printing record highs. Silver went vertical—then collapsed. The move was fast. The reversals were faster. Volatility isn’t elevated. It’s systemic. But this isn’t just another commodity cycle. These metals sit at the core of the energy transition. They’re embedded in batteries, EVs, transmission lines, datacenters, wind turbines, and solar modules. When they move, the entire transition complex moves with them. So, what are we really looking at? Is this a positioning squeeze in thin markets? Or the early tremors of a structural repricing? The divide is clear. At The Carlyle Group, Jeff Currie argues we’re only “on the foothills of the Himalayas” — the early stage of a structural supercycle driven by electrification, grid build-out, and constrained supply. Ed Morse pushes back. High prices cure high prices. Capital flows. Supply responds. Markets rebalance. Cycles end the way they always have. Two very different frameworks. One structural. One cyclical. To cut…

Clean Energy equities have comfortably outperformed the major indices in 2025. Laurent and Gerard are joined by friend of the show Shanu Mathew, an equity portfolio manager everyone in the sector knows to unpack what’s really driving this performance. We begin by putting recent returns into a longer-term context — and by flagging an important caveat: some of the strongest results are coming from highly concentrated portfolios. Shanu makes a critical distinction that often gets blurred in market commentary: equipment providers versus sellers of electrons. On one side sit companies like GE Vernova, Siemens Energy, Schneider Electric, Caterpillar — and the surprise guest, Bloom Energy. On the other are utilities and IPPs. The divergence is striking. Equipment manufacturers have gone ballistic; utilities have performed, but at a far more pedestrian pace. The difference, unsurprisingly, is pricing power. Equipment suppliers — particularly those insulated from Chinese competition — have been able to push through…

Luca Pedretti, Co-Founder, Pexapark, returns to discuss how volatility, market design, and new contract structures are transforming power markets and renewable economics. What begins with PPA pricing quickly evolves into a broader conversation about where value is now created in the clean energy system. We start with the growing importance of IFRS 13 fair value accounting. In increasingly volatile markets, long-term forecasts are no longer sufficient. Market-implied PPA prices are moving faster than fundamentals and are becoming a key signal for future capture rates and risk, forcing investors to reassess how renewable assets are valued. The discussion then turns to Flexibility Purchase Agreements (FPAs), including tolls and floors for batteries. FPAs reflect a fundamental shift from generation toward flexibility and optimisation, as renewable-heavy systems face cannibalisation, negative prices, and widening price spreads. With clean sources now accounting for nearly half of EU power generation, these side…

Resilience is the buzzword of the moment—from Gerard’s personal resilience on display in Davos last week to the critical issue of grid resilience. The great Doug Houseman draws a useful distinction between reliability and resilience. “Reliability is about how well you keep the lights on, while resilience is about how quickly you can restore power after an outage.” Over the past year, blackouts caused by extreme weather, human error, and physical attacks have exposed an uncomfortable truth: electricity is no longer invisible background infrastructure. It is the backbone of modern society, and when it fails, everything else quickly follows. To explore these challenges, Laurent and Gerard sit down with Ronny Fiuren, one of the Nordics’ sharpest thinkers on energy. Ronny is the Founder of Mylicia Energy, an executive board member, and a strategic business developer with deep expertise in power markets, energy flexibility, and grid-oriented solutions. Together, they discuss why resilience has evolved from a…

The infrastructure fund industry has become one of the most powerful engines behind the rise of renewables and datacenters. With Zak Bentley, Americas Editor, Infrastructure Investor (part of the PEI Group), Laurent and Gerard cut through the noise to deliver a clear-eyed view of where the infrastructure market really stands today. 2025 smashed fundraising records, with c.USD300bn raised, but it also laid bare an uncomfortable truth: this is a market in consolidation mode. Capital is concentrating fast, and the biggest platforms are pulling further ahead. Global Infrastructure Partners set a new benchmark with its USD25.2bn Fund V, the largest infrastructure fund ever raised. Macquarie closed more than USD8bn for Infrastructure Partners VI, including co-investments, while Blackstone raised USD5.5bn for Strategic Partners Infrastructure IV, the largest infrastructure secondaries fund to date. Brookfield, KKR, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, and Ardian were also among the clear winners. Scale matters, and…

Heat pumps sit at the heart of Europe’s strategy to cut emissions and reduce dependence on imported gas. Under the EU’s REPowerEU plan, the bloc is targeting 60 million heat pumps by 2030. By the end of 2025, almost 30 million units were already installed — progress, but still only halfway to the goal. Gerard and Laurent are joined by Paul Kenny, Director General of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), to unpack why adoption has surged in countries such as Japan, Scandinavia and parts of the US, while many European markets continue to lag. After a strong year in 2022, European heat pump sales slowed in 2023 and 2024 amid high upfront costs, a shortage of qualified installers, weaker policy support and an unfavourable price relationship between gas and electricity. Paul explains why confidence is returning in 2025, with 1m heat pumps sold across 13 European countries in the first half of 2025, a 9% increase on 2024. We also look beyond residential heating to the rapid rise of industrial heat pumps,…

Laurent and Gerard sit down with Jo-Jo Hubbard, CEO of Electron, to explore why the centre of gravity in the energy transition is shifting decisively toward the distribution grid. Jo-Jo explains why the “last mile” is becoming the true engine of system flexibility, how demand at the edge must become a core resource, and why DSOs aren’t confused about flexibility at all — they simply respond to the incentives regulators design. Flexibility, she argues, isn’t replacing grid reinforcement but making it smarter, helping utilities target and sequence investments far more efficiently at a time when distribution upgrade costs are rising quickly. We discuss how to escape the sector’s obsession with endless pilots, and why real scale only arrives when year-round, rules-based products give suppliers and aggregators the confidence to automate and invest. The conversation then turns to the economics of location — from REMA to zonal pricing — and why congestion at the distribution level is where flexibility competes most…

Happy New Year energy nerds As tradition demands (and lawyers insist), the first episode of the year is the annual ritual where Gerard, Laurent, and Michael boldly predict the future of the energy transition… and then publicly roast themselves for last year’s bad calls. Before unleashing our 2026 Predictions, we do a mandatory rewind to the crystal-ball disasters of 2025: The 2025 prophecy graveyard: US oil production down in 2025 (MB — bold, brave… wrong) Oil at $40/bbl in 2025 (GR — oof) Geopolitics + broken supply chains + energy chaos = a better, more innovative world (LS — still hoping) A bloodbath for hydrogen in transportation (MB — disturbingly accurate) Record installs: Solar 700GW, EVs 20m, Batteries 200GWh (spot on) The death of all things labelled ESG, Climate, and Carbon (LS — prematurely optimistic) Scorecard: Gerard absolutely nailed Silver: from $30/oz to $60/oz in 18 months. BP technically survived 2025… but welcomed a new CEO, so partial credit at best. Michael wins overall, which he will…

For our final episode of the year, Laurent jumped onto the Wolfe Power podcast, where he and host Alex Wolfe took a no-nonsense tour through the big energy moments that shaped 2025. Deals of the Year: The spectacular offshore wind meltdown in the US — Orsted’s year of pain — contrasted with the blazing global boom in battery deployment all over the world, up a staggering 50% year-on-year. The AI & Datacenter Surge: An extraordinary rise… but how much of it is grounded in facts, and how much is built on faith? Scandals & Disgraces: From the SMR pump-and-dump circus to Venture Global’s LNG “ghosts ships,” and of course the Tony Blair report debacle — 2025 delivered drama. Innovations That Actually Mattered: V2G is born thanks to Octopus and BYD and ever larger LFP form factors are reshaping storage — real progress amid the noise. Quotes of the Year: A remarkable harvest of sharp insights capturing the zeitgeist… and, inevitably, a mountain of nonsense worth calling out. To all our listeners: Merry Christmas,…

Will artificial intelligence reshape the power grid, or will the inertia and complexity of today’s infrastructure slow progress—or even redefine how large language models, chips, and datacenters are designed and located? To meet the exponential rise in energy demand, parts of the industry have taken shortcuts—rapidly adding behind-the-meter capacity through open-cycle gas turbines - OCGT (such as the Titan 350 from Caterpillar) with little regard for environmental regulations. The mantra seems to be speed at any cost. Is the AI boom we are witnessing justified—or sustainable? From a technological standpoint, certainly yes: AI capability is roughly doubling every seven months. But from a financial perspective, it is harder to defend—given the sky-high valuations, credit fuelled growth and mounting losses at many of the sector’s biggest players. The bigger question is what all this means for the energy system itself. How will AI be powered? What will it do to the cost of energy and the shape of our…

Gerard is on stage with Adele Zhao - Trina Solar and Thomas Raffeiner- The Mobility House at the Smarter E Conference. In a conversation hosted by Jonathan Gifford, they discuss about the future for the intersection of e-mobility and renewable energy. The conversation has been released as an Episode of “Powering Through” entitled The Resilience of Renewables. Participants take a closer look at the power of the e-mobility revolution, and what is needed to continue to push it forward. The uptake of e-mobility in Europe and China is discussed, along with the implications for energy storage and industry. Ultimately, the promise of a vast, mobile fleet of batteries is presented – offering a hopeful vision for emissions-free mobility and energy provision. Main topics: What is the status of e-mobility adoption and implications for car makers How EVs can interact with the grid and the promise for energy security What Global EV-Battery Cooperation Might Look Like You can watch it on Youtube…

For much of the past two decades, renewable energy investment was viewed as a core infrastructure play—favoured by funds and long-term capital seeking predictable, government-backed cash flows. Yet the gradual phase-out of subsidies and the increasing exposure of renewables to wholesale power price volatility have eroded that stability. Are investors misreading the new market dynamics? And can renewable portfolios be optimized under a fundamentally different investment logic? FlexPower, founded in 2022 in Hamburg and, as of October 2025, fully owned by Citadel, the global hedge fund, represents this shift. The firm operates at the intersection of short-term power trading and battery optimization, deploying data-driven strategies across European markets. FlexPower exemplifies how agile, technology-led firms are reshaping power markets by leveraging algorithmic trading, high-frequency data analytics, and real-time dispatch optimization. Their approach contrasts sharply with traditional infrastructure investors…

Running a power market isn’t just about generating electricity—it’s about making sure every kilowatt is accounted for. Someone has to calculate who owes what, make sure the rules are fair, and keep the system balanced in real time. Think of it as being an accountant, a banker, and a referee—all rolled into one. In the UK, that vital but largely invisible role is handled by Elexon. Elexon is the Balancing and Settlement Code Company (BSCCo) for Great Britain. They are the neutral heartbeat of the electricity market, making sure the lights stay on and energy imbalances are accurately billed. They provide the transparency, fairness, and precision that keeps the whole system running—and prevent anyone from gaming the market. Formerly part of National Grid, Elexon has always been independent and is owned by the 13 largest market participants. In this episode, Laurent and Gerard sit down with Peter Stanley, CEO of Elexon, to dive deep into the nuts and bolts of the balancing market. They break down why system…

Laurent sits down with Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewable Alliance, for a live conversation from COP30 in Belém, Brazil. They explore how COP30 is structured, the role of the Global Renewable Alliance, and the dynamics among participants. The 800-pound gorilla in the room—the United States—hasn’t derailed the negotiations, but one might ask: does it really matter? The real action, Bruce explains, takes place in the Blue Zone and the Green Zone, rather than in the endless debates over whether the final text will call to “phase out,” “phase down,” or “phase up” fossil fuels. With investments in clean technologies now triple those in fossil fuels, the global momentum toward renewables seems unstoppable. The COP text, increasingly, feels symbolic—if not irrelevant. Together, Laurent and Bruce celebrate the ongoing success of bottom-up implementation and the steady deployment of proven technologies, rather than top-down grand initiatives. They also touch on a new forestry initiative, TFFF—dubbed “WTF-FF”…

Solar energy has experienced explosive growth over the past five years — doubling in capacity outside of China and quadrupling within China. But with this rapid expansion come new concerns: Are we scaling too quickly? And is the proliferation of solar now starting to strain power grids, creating more problems than solutions? Enter the concept of the “3 Cs” — Congestion, Curtailment, and Cannibalization — a term coined by Richard Sverisson at Montel. It captures the growing pains of an energy system being transformed at unprecedented speed. To unpack this, Laurent and Gerard welcome one of the world’s leading voices in solar energy: Sam Wilkinson, Head of Renewables at S&P Global Commodity Insights. Sam leads a team of 20 global experts focused on analysing and forecasting trends across renewable energy markets, policy, and infrastructure. Their insights, developed in close collaboration with industry stakeholders, are critical for understanding where the solar market is heading. Notably, Sam and his team are…

Laurent and Gerard have an explosive conversation with Bryan Long, Executive Director in JPMorgan’s Commodities Group. They explore why U.S. energy market signals are failing to support new capacity investments, despite soaring demand (especially from datacenters). Key issues include misaligned pricing, liquidity constraints, and hedging challenges, all of which deter long-term private capital. Key Takeaways: Current price signals don’t support investment in new generation, even as large load growth (e.g., datacenters) is accelerating. Market structures must evolve to better reflect long-term price signals and attract private capital. Supply-side issues: New natural gas peakers and battery storage (BESS) face fragmented development, rising CAPEX, procurement delays, and tariff risks. Industry response: Major consolidation in the IPP space—private equity-backed assets are being acquired by integrated players seeking scale for hyperscaler deals. Possible solutions may include Repricing of forward curves,…