ESFORIN CHANGE MAKERS

🎧#41 | Rethink Trading 
 Energy trading is no longer about how much energy you trade, but about how smartly you orchestrate flexibility. In this episode of ESFORIN Change Makers, we talk to Jean-Baptiste Cornefert, Managing Director Trading at enercity, about the rise of a new trading and he explains why the old trading playbook is reaching its limits. Here's what you'll learn:

⚡ Why value in the energy market no longer derives primarily from volume, but from #flexibility🎼 How the role of the trader is shifting from price optimiser to flexibility orchestrator🤖 Why AI is core to trading, yet humans stay in the loop: "traders who use AI will replace those who don't"🔥 Where untapped flexibility is hiding beyond batteries: district heating, CHP plants, heat pumps, industrial load and EV fleets🌱 Why decarbonization and profitability are not a contradiction

His picture of the future: a network of interconnected energy islands in which traders manage flexible portfolios of batteries, heat, virtual power plants and electric vehicles. We also talk about our joint work with enercity on EV fleets as a flexibility source.

"ESFORIN Change Makers" is the podcast about #EnergyFuture, the digital energy transition and the people shaping it.

In this episode of ESFORIN Change Makers, the CEO & Co-Founder of Sunfire, Nils Aldag, explains why green #hydrogen is not a nice-to-have, but a fundamental pillar of a climate-neutral, energy-independent and globally competitive Europe.

From startup beginnings in Dresden to building football field-sized electrolyser projects, Nils shares what it takes to scale industrial innovation and why hydrogen will play a critical role in decarbonizing sectors that cannot be directly electrified. Here’s what you'll learn:

⚡ Why renewable electricity alone won't be enough to achieve climate neutrality
 🏭 Which industries need hydrogen because they cannot be directly electrified
 📈 How Sunfire scaled from a startup to a European cleantech leader with 700+ employees
 🇪🇺 Why Europe still has the opportunity to lead the global hydrogen economy
 🚀 What must happen to make green hydrogen commercially competitive at scale
 
 "ESFORIN Change Makers" is the podcast about #EnergyFuture, the digital energy transition and the people shaping it.

What if one of the biggest flexibility resources for the energy transition is already there, hidden in plain sight?In this episode of ESFORIN Change Makers, host Theodora talks to Dr. Julia Singer, founder of Utilize, about why many  companies are sitting on untapped flexibility potential and how existing grid connections, battery storage and intelligent optimization can turn idle infrastructure into valuable market assets. Here’s what you'll learn:

⚡ Why flexibility is the next critical phase of the energy transition🔋 How businesses can monetize existing grid connections without changing their core operations🏭 Why commercial and industrial sites hold massive "hidden flexibility" potential🚀 Why simplifying complexity is the key to bringing thousands of new market participants into flexibility markets
The future energy system won't just be built by adding more generation. It will be built by making smarter use of the infrastructure we already have.

What happens when the power market moves faster than ever and flexibility becomes the difference between cost and opportunity?

In this special episode of ESFORIN Change Makers, we turn the spotlight on our own founders @hristian Hövelhaus and Christoph Gardlo. Together, they share how ESFORIN was built around a bold vision more than a decade ago: turning flexibility into one of the most valuable assets of the energy transition.Here’s what you’ll learn:

⚡ Why flexibility is becoming essential for every energy market participant
 🔋 How batteries, industrial assets, renewables and demand response can turn volatility into value
 📈 Why negative prices are not a market failure, BUT a market opportunity
 🧠 How digitalisation, automation and real-time optimisation are reshaping the energy landscape
 🚀 What makes ESFORIN’s cross-market, cross-commodity approach unique after 12 years of proven optimisation

One key takeaway: Flexibility is no longer optional. The companies that act now will be the ones creating value in tomorrow’s energy markets.

👉 Tune in and discover why we call flexibility the gold of the energy transition: Newsroom - ESFORIN

From the dark side of the force to the light side of the energy transition”, in this episode, @Jan‑Christopher Klotz (CCO Germany at Zelestra) shares his journey from conventional energy into the world of renewables and what he has learned along the way.

The energy transition is entering its next phase. Scaling renewables alone is no longer enough. As solar capacity grows, the system is increasingly facing oversupply, visible in negative market prices and growing grid stress. Drawing on practical project insights, from large‑scale PV + battery systems in Germany to global storage projects, Jan explains why the future lies in combining technologies: generation needs storage and assets need to become systems.

But the most insightful takeaway goes beyond technology. The energy transition is not just an engineering challenge, it’s a human one. Bringing together traders, farmers, developers, regulators and investors means aligning different perspectives, languages and incentives into one functioning system.

Tune in to learn why BESS is becoming the backbone of the next energy era and why real change happens when technology, systems and people move in sync.

ESFORIN Change Makers: The podcast on the future of energy, the digital energy transition and change making. 

Kann Industrie Klimaschutz leisten, ohne Wachstum, Wohlstand oder Fortschritt aufzugeben?In dieser Folge des ESFORIN Change Makers Podcasts spricht Guido Kerkhoff, Vorstandsvorsitzender von Klöckner & Co. SE, über die Transformation der Stahlindustrie, die Rolle von grünem Stahl und warum echte Dekarbonisierung nicht bei Verzicht beginnt, sondern bei Transparenz, Technologie und einem freien Geist.

Jetzt reinhören und mehr erfahren über grünen Stahl als Teil der Lösung, warum der Product Carbon Footprint in der Herstellung entscheidend ist und weshalb das Ruhrgebiet mehr Zukunft trägt, als viele denken.

What happens when you connect millions of tiny flexibilities at the edge of the grid and make them work as reliably as a power plant? In the new episode of ESFORIN Change Makers, we interview Sandra Trittin, Co‑Founder & Chief Growth Officer of beebop.ai – also known as the “Queen of Flexibility” – about one of the underestimated drivers of the energy transition.

Here’s what you’ll learn:
⚡ Why small flexibilities matter more than ever in an electrified world
 🏠 How heat pumps, home batteries & EV charging can be aggregated and optimised at scale
 🧠 Why human‑centred energy is key to building trust and adoption
🚀 The biggest success factors when scaling decentralized flexibility programs globally

Deutschland spricht über Wasserstoff, aber übersieht den Energieträger, der heute schon skalieren kann: Biomethan. In der neuen Podcast-Folge spreche ich mit Jörg Selbach‑Röntgen, CEO von biogeen, darüber und viele weitere Change Maker für die Industrie und Energiewirtschaft: 

🌱 Warum Biomethan sofort verfügbar ist und Wasserstoff (noch) nicht

🏭 Wie Industrieunternehmen bereits heute damit dekarbonisieren

🇪🇺 Was Deutschland von Spanien, Italien & Frankreich lernen kann

⚡ Warum Pragmatismus der echte Change Maker in der Energiewende ist

In our latest ESFORIN Change Makers episode, our founder Christian Hövelhaus and co‑founder Christoph Gardlo reflect on developments of the power markets, ESFORIN’s achievements and big questions  of the energy economy:

⚡ Power market volatility & price spikes across Europe
⚡ ESFORIN’s growth, new markets & milestones
⚡ Our one‑stop shop approach for all types of flexibility
⚡ Batteries, regulatory shifts & what’s next for industry players
⚡ And of course: why E‑world is always at its most exciting when markets go crazy 😉

Batterien sind die #ChangeMaker der Energiewende! Genau deshalb beleuchten wir in unserer neuesten ESFORIN CHANGE MAKERS Podcast-Folge die heißesten Themen im Batteriemarkt.  Mit dabei: Christoph Gardlo (COO & Co-Founder) und Alex Schwabbauer (Business Development & Sales Batterien).

Im Fokus dieser Folge:⚡️ Warum zukünftige Restriktionen bei Netzanschlüssen die Batterievermarktung aufmischen.🌱 Das Potenzial von Grüner Co-Location: die Kombination aus EEG-Direktvermarktung und Flexibilität.🔬 Ein Blick auf neue Technologien wie Zinkbromid-Batterien und ihre Vorteile.🧠 Intelligente Vermarktung: Wie KI und Cross-Market-Optimierung den entscheidenden Unterschied machen. Der Podcast zur #Energiezukunft, zur digitalen Energiewende und zum Andersmachen.