Plugged In: the energy news podcast

The UK has announced hugely ambitious plans - clean power by 2030. This will involve a massive roll-out of wind, onshore and offshore, solar as well as an expansion of grids and storage. A challenge, certainly. But not impossible, according to Jonathan Brearley, the chief executive of Ofgem, the UK's energy market regulator. The CEO also explains why the watchdog thinks zonal, rather than nat...

Norway’s energy sector is at the centre of a dramatic political storm. With an election looming in September, Finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum pulled his Centre Party out of the government, warning of greater dependence on what he calls Europe’s “dysfunctional” electricity market. But political uncertainty is not the only challenge — Norway faces a growing supply deficit, AI-driven demand s...

In his first hours back in office, US president Donald Trump issued a series of sweeping executive orders designed to prioritise fossil fuels, dismantle environmental policies and expand American energy dominance. From withdrawing from the Paris agreement to resuming LNG export permits and halting offshore wind projects, Trump’s agenda marks a dramatic pivot from the previous administration. This...

The recent damage to the Estlink 2 electricity cable running between Finland and Estonia has highlighted the precarious nature of power supply amid increased fears of a hybrid war with Russia. Finnish police are investigating whether a ship with links to Russia was involved in sabotage, with the cable – set to be offline for months for repairs – thought to have been damaged by the vessel’s trailin...

Germany’s energy sector is at a pivotal moment, with political shifts, economic challenges, and the energy transition shaping its future. This week on the Montel Weekly Podcast, Katharina Johannsen, Montel’s Berlin reporter, and Tobias Federico, senior analyst at Montel Analytics, join us to discuss key issues ahead of Germany’s February election. We’ll explore how political changes, including Elo...

2024 was a year of seismic shifts in the energy sector, marked by challenges, breakthroughs, and critical debates. From Italy’s energy transition hurdles to Germany’s hydrogen shake-ups and the UK’s evolving gas market, we’ve seen how global events and regional policies shape the energy landscape. In this special episode, Montel editors – Laurence Walker, Andreas Lochner, Nathan Witkop, Enza Tedes...

2025 is set to be a year of continuing geopolitical turmoil. Donald Trump’s return to the White House will raise the temperature further at a time of major instability in the Middle East along with Russia-Ukraine. Questions remain over where Europe’s gas will come from and a key European power-player, Germany, faces fresh elections in February. In this episode, we delve into the latest geopolitica...

Poland’s energy sector is undergoing a critical, if slow, transition after the election of Donald Tusk as prime minister exactly one year ago. Coal still dominates the mix despite a greater use of gas and a growth in renewables. Grid modernisation and energy security have taken centre stage.  Significant challenges include high energy costs, particularly for industry. There’s also the matter of wh...

This week, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change released a report declaring, “a new nuclear age is beginning,” arguing that nuclear power is critical in meeting global climate goals. But how is this renaissance different from earlier proclamations of an atomic revival? In this episode, Richard talks with report co-author Tone Langengen about the case for a nuclear revival and the hurdles sti...

In October, the Nordic power market introduced a new calculation method for cross-zonal capacity to improve Nordic grid utilisation. However, so-called flow-based market coupling, in place for almost a decade in continental Europe, has received a rocky reception in the north. Particularly amongst policy makers and small companies.  So, what exactly is it, and why has it caused a furore in the Nord...

Global leaders at COP29 were under a huge amount of pressure going into talks this week following the UN Secretary General public voicing his concerns over the state of negotiations.     Criticisms of this year’s talks and the huge scale event that COP has become in recent years begs the question: is COP too big, and does it need reforming? We also discuss Europe's carbon market, current driv...

At the start of November, the Swedish government announced that it was vetoing plans for 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea due to security concerns. The announcement was met with much criticism from developers and lobby groups who felt blindsided by the cancellations and concerned about what this decision suggests about Sweden’s future energy priorities. In this episode, Richard speaks to W...

It has been a big week for global politics. On the same day that the United States voted Donald Trump as their 47 th President, the German coalition government broke down after a budget row over cutting energy costs to companies and financial support for Ukraine. In this episode, Richard explores what this new US administration will mean for energy markets, and he speaks to one of our guests live...

This week, the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her budget – the first from a Labour government in 14 years. Whilst there were no big surprises for the energy sector, the budget still raised some interesting questions about the challenges in the UK when it comes to channeling private investment, and how effective the funding is going to be. In this episode, Richard dissects what the announcem...

It is over a year since Hamas attacked Israel, which triggered a wider conflict in the Middle East; the territory that produces around a third of the world’s oil. And much of its gas.  Yet, despite the escalating military attacks and rising geopolitical tensions, the price of oil has not increased as significantly as some experts assumed, especially when compared to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tw...

The last two years of the conflict in Ukraine, and the rise in malicious cyberattacks, has raised concerns security risks over Europe’s plans to be more self-sustainable in energy supply. Now, as countries across Europe roll out their plans for further decarbonisation and electrification, the security of these plans has come into question, pushing the energy sector firmly onto NATO’s radar.  Is Eu...

It's clear for many that Europe needs to ramp up battery energy storage capacity over the next decade to help decarbonise the economy. But where does this leave battery developers and manufacturers who must navigate the complex markets and battle against negative pricing? In this episode, Richard speaks to Neoen’s MD of Sweden about the largest battery in the Nordic region that will start ope...

This week marked a historic milestone for the UK as it shut down the last remaining coal-fired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire. Once the backbone of the country’s energy supply, coal has been an essential part of the energy mix for over a century. In this bonus episode, Richard speaks to Matthew Scrimshaw, CCO of Montel, who shares his memories of growing up in his childhood ho...

In September, the growing uncertainty surrounding the hydrogen economy brought new projects from producers like Shell and Equinor to a halt. Is this the start of a wave of hydrogen project cancellations that we are about to see in Europe? Has H2 passed peak hype? Richard speaks to Montel’s Environmental Markets Reporter and the Hydrogen Science Coalition about why we are seeing hydrogen projects c...

Europe’s gas supplies are plentiful. Some in the industry are relaxed ahead of the coming winter, but with the rising military escalation in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and the global market apprehensively awaiting November’s US Election, this positive sentiment might be about to change.  In this week’s episode, we speak to hedge fund Svelland Capital about the impending challenges to the...

This week, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, unveiled her team of new commissioners and set out their priorities for the next five years. Amongst her new team are some key, experienced players for energy and climate, whose home countries are already avid supporters of the EU’s plans to decarbonise its economy. Does this new, energy-charged Commission combined with Dra...

Harmonisation and international standardisation; those were the words that were often heard this week when analysts, traders, and energy producers came together to discuss the challenges facing the guarantees of origin market at the GO Conference in Reykjavík this week.  The GO market is a driver for investment in renewable energy production pipeline, but how does it need to change to bring in mor...

The global power system is changing. Carbon emissions are declining. The green transition is in full flow. This is good news for the planet, but what do the next few years on this journey to 2030 look like for carbon prices? In this episode, we talk about the impact of impending EU regulations that businesses are bracing themselves for. With supply due to decrease faster than demand, and the squee...

A Montel News investigation has aired claims of insider trading in Germany’s power market. Signals received by some to help balance the grid are allegedly being used to front-run prices for same-day delivery. We’ve spoken to traders who claim this is an open secret worth millions of euros. Listen to a discussion with the reporter who broke the story. Host: Richard Sverrisson, Editor-in-Chief, Mont...

The guarantees of origin (GO) market is complex and opaque. Listen to a discussion that unpicks the complexity, simplifies the jargon and lays bare the controversies in the market. With big tech looking to source more and more green energy, how can the market – projected to be worth EUR 4bn by 2030 – increase its credibility and boost liquidity? And why has Norway ruled out an exit from the GO mar...