Redefining Energy

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) were traditionally developed as portfolios of relatively small, MW-scale projects, reflecting the experience of renewable energy funds rooted in solar and wind. But a new generation of GW-scale projects is entering the market, led by developers with different backgrounds, industrial expertise and a fundamentally different view of scale: bigger is better. State...

For almost two decades, the environmental movement has repeatedly announced the demise of fossil fuels. The headlines have been dramatic, but the results have been less convincing.   As COP31 is about to begin, the world remains remarkably indifferent — despite the climate crisis growing ever more urgent, as if saving the planet were merely an optional item on the agenda, Gerard and Laurent invite...

Founded in 1848, Lazard is one of the world’s most prestigious investment banks. But in energy, its influence goes well beyond Wall Street. For twenty years, Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) report has shaped how investors think about the economics of solar, wind, gas, coal and nuclear. It has helped change minds—and channel vast amounts of capital into the energy transition.   The report...

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 ne...

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 Jupit...

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...

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 Tim...

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 o...

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 b...

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 an...

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 p...

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 el...

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...

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...

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...

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 challen...

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 man...

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...

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 RW...

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 infra...

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 opport...

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 specialist...

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 op...

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 resemblin...

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 th...