Aurora Energy Research Podcast

This week on Energy Unplugged we’re doing a deep dive on capacity markets with some of Aurora's leadership from around the world. Our Founder and CEO, John Feddersen is joined by Dan Monzani – MD for GB and Ireland, Hugo Batten - MD for Asia-Pacific and California and Oliver Kerr – Head of USA. The main questions we’re trying to answer are: 1) What are capacity markets?; 2) Why are they used?; and 3) When do they work?As in Europe capacity markets have largely won the debate, the focus is on markets outside Europe. Main topics include: •The core elements of capacity markets, procurement targets, timings & frequency of auctions•Political context and in what ways does it matter•Key strengths of the capacity marketsSupport the show

This week on Energy Unplugged, Hugo Batten and Oliver Kerr are joined by Jacob Mays, Assistant Professor at Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.Prior to this role, Jacob studied at Harvard, Winconsin-Madison, and Northwestern. He’s been a management consultant, worked at FERC, and writes energy papers across a diverse range of topics.Listen to this ep to hear them discuss: - The role of energy modelling - Market design, in particular Jacob’s view on the wholesale-only vs capacity market plus wholesale debate - The role of academics in the energy transitionEnjoy!Support the show

This week on Energy Unplugged, our MD for Australia and California Hugo Batten is joined by Founder and CEO of Edify Energy, John Cole.Edify has originated, financed and delivered 950 MW of utility scale solar PV and battery storage projects, with a strong pipeline of renewable, storage and green hydrogen projects to follow. John was recently included in The Australian newspaper’s Top 100 Green Power Players list.In this episode, Hugo and John discuss:•The current crisis, impact of the federal election, and redesign of the Australian market•Edify and the Riverina asset•John’s career, having co-founded 2 very successful renewables businesses in both UK and AustraliaEnjoy!Support the show

This episode is first in a series on global project finance, organized in partnership with SMBC Group. With a number of 4 episodes covering Europe, Australia, Asia and the US, this series is hosted by Aurora, with guests from SMBC Group, various law firms and Aurora.In this episode, we have Ana Barillas, our Head of Iberia talking to Caroline Lytton, Managing Director, Head of Power & Renewables Global Structured Finance EMEA at SMBC, John Dewar, Partner at Milbank London and Casimir Lorenz, Principal at Aurora. Caroline has started working in project finance in 2003, she has always been focused on infrastructure having 12 years’ experience in oil and gas. 3 years ago she was asked to head up the SMBC power and renewables business. John has lots of experience in the sector, and with Milbank, which has one of the largest renewable practices in the world. He became a partner in the late 90’s and has worked on a series of IPP projects in the UK and Europe. At Milbank John works on renewable energy projects b

This is a replay of an older episode with Nora Mead Brownell, Former Commissioner FERC, Former Chair PG&E and Founding Partner of ESPY Energy Solutions. Nora will be one of the keynote speakers at the Aurora Spring Forum 2022 on 14 July.If you want to hear more from Nora and many other industry leaders, join our Spring Forum 2022 on 14 July in Oxford, UK. The topic is: Delivering the energy transition in a fractured world: Navigating price volatility, geopolitical risk, and supply chain disruption. Spaces are limited and are filling up quickly so book your ticket now! For more details check auroraer.com/events/spring-forum/***Our CEO John Feddersen discusses the energy transition in the US with his special guest Nora Mead Brownell, Co-Founder of ESPY Energy Solutions. Nora is a former commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) where she was nominated by President George W. Bush, and among many other previous roles she has also served as the Chair of the Board of Pacific Gas & Elec

This is a replay of an older episode with Greg Jackson, Founder and CEO of Octopus Energy. Greg will be one of the keynote speakers at the Aurora Spring Forum 2022 on 14 July. If you want to hear more from Greg and many other industry leaders, join our Spring Forum 2022 on 14 July in Oxford, UK. The topic is: Delivering the energy transition in a fractured world: Navigating price volatility, geopolitical risk, and supply chain disruption. Spaces are limited and are filling up quickly so book your ticket now! For more details check auroraer.com/events/spring-forum/***In this episode our CEO John Feddersen speaks to Greg Jackson, the Founder and CEO of Octopus Energy, one of the UK’s largest energy supplier businesses, and award-winning for its status as a provider of 100% sustainable energy. Octopus Energy Group recently announced the acquisition of its sister company, Octopus Renewables, bringing the retail and the generation side of energy together under one roof. Greg is one of the most successful entrepren

In this episode, our CEO John Feddersen is joined by Mark Collette, Managing Director of EnergyAustralia and Hugo Batten, Managing Director in Australia and California at Aurora.EnergyAustralia is one of Australia’s major vertical integrated energy gentailers. Mark has been with EnergyAustralia since 2003 and commenced as Managing Director in July 2021. He served as Chief Customer Officer from May 2019 until June 2021 and prior to leading EnergyAustralia’s retail business, Mark led the Energy business between 2015 and 2019. Former roles have included executive responsibility for policy, sustainability, strategy and other matters. Mark was appointed Chair of the Australian Energy Council (AEC) in December 2021. Main topics include:•The energy industry in Australia over the last decade•EnergyAustralia’s strategy for a Net Zero electricity system •Battery storage and the role for flexible assets in Australia•The long term review of Australia’s power market design, capacity payments and the introduction of a cong

This week is a very special one for Energy Unplugged as we celebrate 100 episodes and 2 years since we launched the podcast. In this 100 episode, our Head of Commissioned Projects in Central Europe, Hanns Koenig is joined by Antje Kanngiesser, CEO of Alpiq. Alpiq is a leading Swiss energy services provider and electricity producer in Europe. Antje’s professional background include Vice President of Group Markets & Services and Member of the Executive Board for BKW AG, various roles at Alpiq Group and Energie Ouest Suisse as well as Lawyer at S&K and GGSC, Berlin. Antje and Hanns discuss:•The role of Switzerland in the European energy transition•Alpiq’s strategy and activity across Europe•The impact of the current energy crisis in Europe on utilitiesSupport the show

In this episode, our CEO, John Feddersen is joined by Paul Ezekiel, Founder, Chair and Chief Investment Officer of Amp Energy. Amp is primarily a renewable energy developer and operator with a focus across solar, wind and storage and with over 7GW of assets built or contracted since 2009. Amp is also a technology company and the Amp X platform contributes to accelerating the energy transition through a portfolio of disruptive technologies. Before Amp, Paul had a long history in the energy transition, being involved in clean energy for around two decades. Paul and John discuss:•Amp’s strategy and battery investing •Investment in green hydrogen and at what point lithium-ion stops being the most cost effective storage solution•The best market design for enabling batteries to provide all of their benefitsSupport the show

In this episode, our Research Director, Richard Howard is joined by Alice Delahunty, President of Electricity Transmission at National Grid. Alice is the first President of National Grid’s Electricity Transmission business, where she is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the electricity transmission network for England and Wales. Prior to joining National Grid, Alice had a variety of roles at E.ON, culminating in Head of Offshore UK Wind Operations. The focus of the conversation is on grid networks, a critical enabler of the low carbon transition. Alice and Richard discuss:•The scale of network investment required as we add renewables to the system and move towards a zero-carbon electricity system•The challenges of delivering this critical infrastructure•The impact on consumers, affordability, and billsSupport the show

In this episode, our Thekla von Bülow, Principal for Commissioned Projects at Aurora is joined by Flemming Sørensen, Vice President for Europe at LevelTen Energy, in a discussion about long-term green power purchase agreements (PPAs). LevelTen Energy is the leading provider of renewable transaction infrastructure, delivering the cloud-based software, centralized supply, automated analytics, and expertise required to accelerate clean energy transactions. Flemming leads LevelTen’s expansion efforts from the company’s European headquarters in Madrid. His previous roles have included wholesale market trading and management of risk portfolios for corporate consumers at Energi Danmark, energy procurement and implementation of an RE100 strategy for NovoNordisk, and most recently originating offshore wind PPAs from Orsted.Thekla and Flemming discuss:•Which are the hot and emerging PPA markets in Europe•PPA trends including virtual PPAs•The current PPA market situation including very high prices and how is this affect

This week on Energy Unplugged, our Managing Director in Australia and California, Hugo Batten is joined by Brad Hopkins, General Manager of Commercial and Financial Markets at AEMO Services. With a variety of roles in the energy transition, most recently as a partner at KPMG and also at Macquarie, Brad is leading a lot of the work on the New South Wales Roadmap which aims to overhaul its energy markets and replace the coal capacity that is departing over the next decade. Brad and Hugo discuss:•The purpose and history of the New South Wales Roadmap and the role of AEMO Services in delivering and running the program•The major challenges to deliver the ambitious goals for 2030 with focus on transmission and supply chain concerns•The role of market modellingSupport the show

In this episode, our CEO, John Feddersen is joined by As Tempelman, the CEO of Eneco and Jesse Hettema, our Research Lead for Dutch & Belgium power markets. Eneco is an electric utility in The Netherlands which specialises in retail, district heating, renewables and thermal generation. Eneco has committed to full climate neutrality by 2035 for all three scopes of emissions.Main topics include:* The current trends and the status of the energy transition in the Dutch market* The impact of the Russian war in Ukraine on the trajectory of decarbonisation globally* The role of big oil & gas companies in the energy transitionSupport the show

In this episode, our CEO, John Feddersen speaks to Sam Stranks, Leader of StranksLab at Cambridge University’s Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology. Sam is at the forefront of research into the next generation of solar technology and his research focuses on the optical and electronic properties of emerging semiconductors including halide perovskites, carbon allotropes and organic semiconductors for low-cost electronics applications such as photovoltaics and lighting.John and Sam discuss:•Solar technology research and the trajectory for costs and efficiency •The ability of the private sector to engage Academia in order to commercialize new technologies•The role of solar in achieving Net Zero emissions globally•What has enabled Cambridge to be such a successful technical university over such a long period of timeSupport the show

This week on Energy Unplugged, our Managing Director in Australia and California, Hugo Batten speaks to Guillermo Bautista Alderete, Director of Market Analysis and Forecasting at California’s system operator (CAISO). Hugo and Guillermo are also joined by Rowan von Spreckelsen, Aurora’s Head of Research in Australia and California. Guillermo has had a distinguished 15 years career at CAISO, having come out of academia at the University of Waterloo in Canada where he received a Ph. D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Main topics include:•The role of the system operator over the next 5 to 10 years in the policy and market design space•The mechanisms that CAISO has introduced to help with the integration of renewables•The impact of new technologies such as offshore wind and hydrogen on the California market •Batteries economics and saturation of ancillary marketsSupport the show

This week on Energy Unplugged, we discuss energy security and the current energy crisis at just few hours since the UK Government has published its much anticipated energy security strategy. Our Managing Director for UK and Ireland, Dan Monzani, is delighted to welcome to the podcast the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Kwasi Kwarteng.The British Energy Security Strategy comes at a very challenging time for the global energy policy and sets out how Great Britain will accelerate homegrown power for greater energy independence.Main topics include:• Security of gas supply and UK’s access to the physical supply of gas for the next winter• The Government’s new commitments on hydrogen and its potential in decarbonisation• The longer term announcements on electricity security including technology announcements such as an increased target of 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030• Market reform options in the UK and the bigger market interventions suggested in Europe, such as the Spanish G

This week on the podcast, our USA Country Lead, Oliver Kerr is joined by Jon Wellinghoff, Former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and current Chief Regulatory Officer at Voltus, the world’s leading platform for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). With a distinguished career in the US energy sector, Jon was the longest serving Chairman of FERC during the Obama administration after he was appointed first as a commissioner by George W Bush in 2006. Jon and Oliver discuss:•The role of FERC and the Federal Government more broadly in the energy transition•The potential of demand-side response which remains a relatively small part of energy mix in US and the reason why haven’t we seen more progress •Whether it is possible to reach Net Zero with renewables, efficiency and demand-side response, or do we also need supply-side investment in other low carbon generation like nuclear, CCS, hydrogen, long-duration storageSupport the show

In this episode, we are honoured to welcome the 29th Prime Minister of Australia - Malcolm Turnbull, in a conversation with our CEO, John Feddersen. Malcolm was the Prime Minister of Australia between 2015-2018, role in which he focussed heavily on decarbonisation. He announced and drove forward the Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped hydro project, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to entering politics he had successful careers as a lawyer, investment banker and journalist. Malcolm and John discuss:•The importance of long duration storage and why isn’t the market delivering large volumes right now•The technological competition for long duration storage technologies•The impact of Russia-Ukraine war on the energy transition globally •Whether energy sector policy is more difficult in Australia than elsewhere and whySupport the show

In this episode, our CEO John Feddersen is joined by a veteran of the renewable energy industry - David Giordano, Global Head of Renewable Power at BlackRock. David has joined the BlackRock team upon its formation in 2011 and has played a key role in the development of BlackRock’s renewables platform. With more than 20 years of investment experience, David serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Renewable Energy and is a Board member of the American Wind Energy Association. John and David discuss:•The changes in the process of deploying capital into renewable in the past 20 years•ESG investing and where are we in measuring and evaluating ESG performance of companies and investment funds•Developing renewables in regulated and non-regulated markets •The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the power industryNext week we welcome Malcolm Turnbull, Former Prime Minister of Australia. Stay tuned!Support the show

This week on Energy Unplugged, we discuss the role Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) could play in ensuring energy security in GB. Our Head of Commissioned Projects for Western Europe - Felix Chow-Kambitsch is joined by two Aurora experts: Emma Woodward, Senior Associate and Caroline Still, Associate. Aurora has recently published a report on the topic, key findings can be found here: https://auroraer.com/insight/long-duration-electricity-storage-in-gb-2/Felix, Emma and Caroline discuss:•The role LDES plays in an energy system•How much LDES do we need in the UK and what energy system implications would LDES have•The UK government’s cap-and-floor mechanism to support LDESNext week we will welcome David Giordano, Global Head of Renewable Power at BlackRock. Stay tuned!Support the show