Energy Unplugged by Aurora

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Steven Mandel, Partner at TPG Rise Climate, in conversation with Oliver Kerr, Aurora’s Managing Director for North America. Together, they explore how institutional capital is responding to policy volatility, surging load growth, and the growing influence of AI on US power markets.  Steven helps lead investments across power, electrification, and the...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Nat Bullard, co-founder of Halcyon, an AI-enabled energy information platform, and one of the sector’s most influential data storytellers. He joins Hugo Batten, Aurora’s Managing Director APAC, and Oliver Kerr, Aurora’s Managing Director USA, to unpack the 2026 edition of his annual “Decarbonisation” presentation - a sweeping, data-led assessment of w...

As part of a special live edition of Energy Unplugged, recorded from the podcast booth at E-World in Essen, Hanns Koenig, Managing Directore EMEA for Aurora Energy Research, sits down with Michael Lewis, CEO of Uniper, to discuss the realities of leading a major European energy company at the heart of the transition.  Drawing on three decades in the sector - from building E.ON’s offshore wind busi...

In this episode of Energy Unplugged, Simon De Clercq is joined by Pieter-Jan Mermans, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Junction Growth Investors, to explore how Europe’s energy transition is shifting from rapid build-out to a more operationally complex phase. Reflecting on the last decade of renewables, electrification and storage growth, they discuss why today’s biggest challenges are no longer...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we share a keynote address from Jonathan Brearley, Chief Executive of Ofgem, recorded live at Aurora’s Energy Transition Summit in London. Jonathan sets out why the UK’s energy transition now requires deep systemic reform -moving beyond a purely market-led model towards a more strategic, coordinated approach to planning, regulation and delivery. Drawing on lessons fr...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Steffen Schülzchen, Founder and CEO of Entrix, and Constantin Nicklas, Head of Sales at Entrix, for a discussion on how grid congestion is reshaping battery storage investment across Europe. They join Claudia Gunter, Senior Research Lead at Aurora, to focus on why network constraints have become a defining challenge for batteries, and how flexible con...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we bring you a live panel discussion from Aurora’s Energy Transition Summit, moderated by Camilla Palladino, Deputy Head of Lex at the Financial Times. She is joined by Jonathan Brearley, CEO of Ofgem; Dame Dawn Childs, CEO of Pure Data Centres Group; and Keith Anderson, CEO of Scottish Power, for a wide-ranging debate on whether Britain’s energy transition can remai...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Ana Marques, Executive Board Member at EDP. She joins Ana Barillas, Aurora’s Managing Director for Iberia & LatAm, to explore how flexibility, grids, and system resilience are becoming central to the next phase of the energy transition, alongside continued growth in wind and solar.  Ana sits on EDP’s Executive Board and oversees the group’s global...

This week on Energy Unplugged, Jesse Hetema, Aurora’s Head of the Netherlands and Belgium, is joined by Simon Bushell, Founder and CEO of Sympower, to explore why flexibility has become a critical pillar of Europe’s energy transition. They discuss how rising price volatility, negative prices and grid congestion are shifting the focus from pure decarbonisation towards system resilience, and why dem...

2025 has been a landmark year for the global energy sector and the energy transition, marked by rapid change and significant challenges. Aurora has brought together the key themes shaping the energy transition into a special end of year report and accompanying podcast – hosted by our Global Research Director, Richard Howard and with contributions from 12 Aurora experts from Aurora’s global network...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Steve McMahon, Ofgem’s Director for Network Price Controls. He joins Dan Monzani, Aurora’s Managing Director for the UK & Ireland, to unpack Ofgem’s final determinations for RIIO-3 and what the next regulatory period means for networks, consumers and investors. The discussion explores the scale of required electricity and gas network in...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Mariglen Nora, Head of the Green Energy Segment at Elevion Group, joining Casimir Lorenz, Aurora’s Market Lead for Central Europe & the Nordics, for a deep dive into how European renewable and flexibility markets are evolving across Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, and beyond. Mariglen oversees Elevion’s portfolio of specialist...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome the Honourable Matt Kean, Chair of Australia’s Climate Change Authority and Director at Wollemi. He joins Hugo Batten, Aurora’s Managing Director for APAC, and James Ha, Aurora’s Head of Research for APAC, for a deep conversation on how Australia is reshaping its energy system - through policy reform, market design, and strategic investment...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Nawal Saini, Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Renewable Power & Transition Group. He joins Dan Monzani, Aurora’s Managing Director for the UK & Ireland and India, alongside Debabrata Ghosh, Aurora’s Head of India, for a deep dive into how renewable deployment and transition investment are accelerating in India and other emerging mar...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Karol Wolański, Head of Flexibility & Aggregation at Respect Energy, and Roch Baranowski, Chief Strategy Officer at Respect Energy Holding. They join Piotr Dobrzynski, Aurora's Market Lead for Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia, to discuss how Poland and the wider CEE power markets are evolving in response to renewable growth, regulatory ref...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Anna von Bremen, Partner and Head of Energy Innovation at Osborne Clarke. She joins Nico Leicht, Project Leader in Aurora’s Berlin Advisory Team, to discuss market design, regulatory frameworks, and innovation in the German power sector. Anna brings deep expertise in energy regulation and co-located battery storage projects, advising on bot...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Marcio Trannin, Managing Director for LATAM at Sunco Capital and Vice-President of the Board of Administrators at ABSOLAR, and Ricardo Motoyama, Senior Vice President of Commercial & Business Development at Elera Renewables. They join Rodrigo Borges, Aurora’s Market Lead for Brazil, to explore how Brazil’s liberalising power market, rap...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Tom Palmer, Head of Business Development in Zenobē’s Network Infrastructure business. He joins Malvika Gode, Senior Associate at Aurora Energy Research, to explore how large-scale battery storage is transforming grid stability and enabling the transition to a fully renewable power system. Tom is an economist by background and brings a wealt...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Martin Daronnat, Head of Flexibility & Structured Origination at ENGIE . He joins Casimir Lorenz, Aurora’s Managing Director for Central Europe, for a deep dive into the emerging market for flexibility purchase agreements (FPAs) and their role in financing and operating large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). Martin has over...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Lawson Steele, CEO of Haldane Energy, to explore the strategic and practical role of hydrogen in long-duration energy storage and the UK’s energy transition. Marten Ford, who leads Aurora’s work in GBN Ireland on low-carbon fuels and hydrogen, guides the conversation through the challenges and opportunities facing the UK’s power system over the next d...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Juan Carlos Jobet, former Chilean Minister of Energy and Mining and now Dean of the Business School at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. He joins José Muñoz, Aurora’s Country Lead for Chile, to discuss Chile’s path to a cleaner, more resilient energy system, from the coal phase-out and renewable growth to the country’s ambitions in green hydrogen...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Ben Guest, Managing Director and Head of Gresham House Energy Transition, as well as Fund Manager of the Gresham House Energy Storage Fund. He joins Caroline Still, Principal in our Oxford Advisory team, to discuss the role of storage and flexibility in enabling the UK’s energy transition. Ben has over two decades of experience in the energ...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Karin Burns, CEO of San Diego Community Power (SDCP). She joins Oliver Kerr, Aurora’s Managing Director for North America, and Farhad Billimoria, Head of US West Research, to discuss the rise of community choice aggregation (CCA) and its role in accelerating California’s clean energy transition. Karin has led SDCP since 2022, overseeing its...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Helen Clarkson, CEO of Climate Group. She joins Richard Howard, Aurora’s Global Research Director, to discuss the role of business and government in accelerating the transition to net zero. Helen has led Climate Group since 2017, overseeing initiatives such as RE100, EV100, SteelZero, and the Under2 Coalition, which mobilise companies and g...

This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re delighted to welcome Philip Hirschhorn, Ministerial Appointee to the NEM Wholesale Market Settings Review Expert Panel, and Tim Nelson, Chair of the independent review of Australia’s NEM. They join Hugo Batten, Aurora’s Managing Director for APAC, and Hana Ramli, Principal in our Australian Advisory team, to discuss the draft recommendations of the Wholesale Ma...