Transmission

How a battery gets optimised, from the moment a contract is signed to the millisecond a trade is placed, is still a black box for most people in the industry. Understanding that process is the difference between leaving money on the table and extracting maximum value from every asset.
In this episode of Transmission, Ed Porter is joined by Fabrizio Fenu, Head of Business Development at EDF UK. They pull back the curtain on how battery optimisation actually works at scale: how assets are treated fairly across a large portfolio, why merchant, floor and tolling contracts suit different investors, what role AI and algorithms play on a live trading desk, and why co-located solar and battery projects are harder to finance than they look.
Chapters
00:00 Intro: Optimising 5GW
01:18 EDF's Battery Business
01:47 5GW Portfolio Scale
02:25 From 50kW to Commercial
04:44 Inside the Trading Floor
06:22 Winning Big Battery Contracts
08:01 Debt and Revenue Certainty
09:21 Merchant vs Floor vs Toll
11:05 Optimiser Market Consolidation
13:39 AI in Energy Trading
16:10 Energy Careers Advice
17:57 Fair Asset Treatment
19:25 Day-Ahead and Ancillary Markets
22:45 Enduring Auction Capability Explained
25:51 Intraday Pricing and Indexing
28:37 Perfect Battery Asset Quickfire
31:45 Co-location Solar and Battery
35:12 Battery Retrofitting Explained
36:21 Connection Reform and Scale
37:37 Simplify the Energy Industry

The energy grid fails in silence, long before the lights go out. The real problem is that most of the infrastructure keeping the grid alive is inspected too slowly, too infrequently, and with sensors that drift. We pour billions into building new power infrastructure, yet some of our biggest reliability gains might come from simply seeing existing assets more clearly. Quantum sensing promises exactly that, and it is closer to deployment than most people realise.
In this conversation, Alex sits down with Emma Wong, Nuclear Principal Lead for Innovation, Quantum Technologies, and International Engagement at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), to explore how quantum sensing technology could transform grid reliability, reduce costly downtime at nuclear plants, and reshape how we think about energy security, from US utilities to communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Chapters
00:00 Seeing Problems Early
01:53 EPRI's Mission
03:34 Into Nuclear Innovation
06:27 Quantum Technologies Overview
09:15 How Quantum Sensors Work
12:33 No-Drift Sensing Advantage
15:34 Real World Applications
22:21 Cutting Nuclear Downtime
25:20 Utility Pilot Programs
26:15 Quantum Meets AI
32:29 Key Stakeholders for Quantum
35:37 Nuclear in a Renewable Grid
41:43 Modern Reactor Safety
46:43 G20 Nuclear Summit
48:43 Energy Access in Africa
53:22 Contrarian Energy Take
#Nuclear #QuantumTechnology #EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy #FutureOfEnergy

New York legally committed to generating 70% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, and 100% carbon-free power by 2040. Nearly a decade later, the state is way behind schedule.
In the first episode of Modo Energy Presents, our new series of video documentaries, we examine why building renewable energy in New York is so difficult - despite strong political support and ambitious targets.
We explore:
Transmission bottlenecks between upstate and downstate.
The NYISO interconnection queue, now holding ~27 GW of projects.
Why 90% of proposed projects never reach commercial operations.
Interconnection costs that can account for 60% of total project CapEx.
Offshore wind policy uncertainty.
Capacity market dynamics that favour dispatchable generation.
And why battery energy storage economics differ from ERCOT and California.
Featuring Peter Berini, Director of Industry at Modo Energy, this episode compares New York’s “cluster study” interconnection model with ERCOT’s faster “connect and manage” approach - and asks whether structural reform is necessary to hit renewable targets.
A Modo Energy production.
Music licensed via Artlist.
Stock footage licensed via Pond5 (via Everly).
This documentary is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

The UK has a bold target to triple solar capacity within a single parliament, but the path from ambition to deployment is riddled with grid bottlenecks, workforce shortages, and revenue uncertainty.
In this episode, Ed Porter sits down with Matt Black Managing Director of IG renewables and Chair of Solar Energy UK, to unpack the realities of delivering large-scale solar in Great Britain, from the aftermath of the connections queue reform to the future role of co-located batteries, the Warm Homes Plan, and what it actually takes to build a solar career in 2025.
Chapters
00:00:03 Connection Reform Overview
00:07:30 Gate Two Shakeout
00:09:00 Solar M&A Activity
00:13:30 Strategic Energy Planning
00:18:30 Co-Located Solar Storage
00:22:00 60GW Delivery Challenge
00:24:30 EPC Workforce Gap
00:28:30 CFD PPA Merchant Revenue
00:33:00 Balcony Solar Growth
00:37:47 Warm Homes Plan
00:45:00 Future Solar Deployment Shift
#SolarEnergy #EnergyTransition #RenewableEnergy #CleanPower #UKEnergy

AI data center power demand is surging, solar prices are collapsing, and power markets like ERCOT are changing fast.
Power trading strategies that worked just three years ago are now obsolete as markets transform in real-time.
In this episode, Alex sits down with Terry Embury, Vice President of Trading and Market Operations at AES Clean Energy. The conversation explores the shift in electricity markets driven by solar proliferation, the evolving value proposition of battery storage across different markets, strategic lessons from decades of power trading experience, and how Terry's team is positioning themselves at the intersection of renewable energy and the data center boom that's driving unprecedented electricity demand growth.
Chapters
- 00:00 Clean Energy Timing Problem
- 02:03 AES Company Overview
- 04:45 Battery Storage California
- 06:38 ERCOT Duck Curve
- 08:15 Solar Trading Blocks
- 09:45 Battery Revenue Streams
- 12:21 CAISO vs ERCOT Batteries
- 14:25 Market Volatility Dynamics
- 15:30 Offtake Agreements Explained
- 17:21 Belfield 500MW Battery
- 18:45 Biggest Trade Ever
- 21:00 Wind Solar Portfolio Management
- 22:14 24/7 Clean Energy Matching
- 25:11 Renewable Coverage Pricing
- 26:07 Nuclear Energy Outlook
- 28:21 SMR Timeline Concerns
- 30:56 Nuclear Submarine Stories
- 34:52 Transmission Constraint Challenges
- 38:19 Data Center Generation Gap
- 40:05 AI Growth Inflection Point
- 42:00 Battery Market Opportunity
- 44:39 AI Prompt Engineering Careers
- 46:14 Trading Desk Culture Shift
- 48:29 Managing Young Traders
- 50:10 Head of Trading Daily Routine
- 51:08 Worst Trading Day Story
- 53:24 AES Future Announcements
- 54:55 Contrarian Energy Market Views
#AI #DataCenters #Solar #ERCOT #Batteries #CleanEnergy #Nuclear