After five years, European TSOs finally released their bidding zone review this week. The report was met with much backlash from Germany’s government and industry leaders strongly opposed to the proposal to split its zone into five. 

In this week’s podcast episode Richard speaks to commentators for and against dividing Germany’s territory, and explores how the industry can expect TSOs in Germany and the Nordic region to respond in the next six months. 

Presenter: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel
Contributor: Siobhan Hall - Brussel’s Correspondent

Guests:

Casimir Lorenz - Managing Director for Central Europe, Aurora Energy Research
Tobias Federico - Chief Product Officer, Montel 
Morten Pinstrup - International Chief Engineer, Energinet

Editor: Bled Maliqi
Producer: Sarah Knowles

Norway is the largest exporter of guarantees of origin certificates. Yet last month, the country's government published guidance for industry and union leaders that supported a localised approach, opening up the possibility for double counting of GOs.

After Iceland was accused of a similar move last year, we explore whether this latest move is pulling the reliability of the GO market into question amid continuously falling prices.

In this week's episode, Richard speaks to Daniel Arnesson from Veyt about where the confidence is in the GO market, and when prices will start to rise again.

Presenter: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel
Contributor: Gert Ove Mollestad - Norway Editor, Montel
Guest: Daniel Arnesson - Manager of Renewable Power Certificates, Veyt

Editors: Oscar Birk
Producer: Sarah Knowles

Oil and gas prices plummeted in the immediate aftermath of the trade war between the US and China.

With many expecting oil and gas prices to continue to decline as a result of Trump's tariffs, the trade war raises raises fundamental questions about the profitability of oil production. Will oil producers feel inspired to "drill baby drill", as Trump famously promised, if prices continue to fall?

In this episode, Richard speaks to Saul Kavonic, Head of Energy Research at MST Marquee, about the impact on global trade flows, prices and why an expected boost in LNG in 2026 may not materialise.

Host: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel News
Contributor: Laurence Walker - Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Montel News
Guest: Saul Kavonic - Head of Energy Research, MST Marquee

Editor: Oscar Birk
Producer: Sarah Knowles 

This week, Trump's staggering tariffs on Asia and Europe caused turmoil in global equity and energy markets - as they took effect and were paused - raising many concerns within the energy sector about prices, trade flows, and the future of renewables investments.

With the situation changing day-by-day, even hour by hour, Richard speaks to Norges Bank Investment Management - Norway's Oil Fund - about the state of the global renewables markets, and what long-term impact the events of this week will have on the energy transition.

Presenter: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel
Contributor: Olav Vilnes - Norway Editor, Montel
Guest: Harald von Heyden - Global Head of Energy and Infrastructure, Norges Bank Investment Management

Podcast Editors: Oscar Birk, Bled Maliqi
Podcast Producer: Sarah Knowles

In this week's episode, the president of the federal network agency discusses the critical issues facing Germany's energy market as the country waits for the new government to take the reins.

How will Germany - and Europe - fill gas storage ahead of the winter, given the current unattractive prices? We also talk about the pressure the country faces to split its price zone, and the outlook for power demand amid a challenging macro-economic environment for German industry. 

Presenter: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel News
Guest:  Klaus Müller - President, The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur); Nathan Witkop - Editor, Clean Energy Desk

Editor: Bled Maliqi
Producer: Sarah Knowles

Last Friday, one of the world's largest transport hubs came to a halt for 18 hours after a fire broke out at one of its substations in North Hyde.

Since the incident, National Grid's CEO responded to accusations that Heathrow bosses were forced to shut down the airport due to a lack of power, confirming that the two other substations were operational and fully capable of powering the airport.

Why, then, was the airport not able to connect the power, and why did it take so long to return to its operations?

In this week's episode, Richard speaks to Simon Gallagher, grid expert and MD of UK Network Services, a leading independent energy networks consultancy, about some of the wider concerns this outage raises about the country@s energy security. How vulnerable is some of its crucial infrastructure?

 Host: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel News
 Guest: Simon Gallagher, Managing Director of UK Network Services

 Editor: Bled Maliqi
 Producer: Sarah Knowles

Over the past year, many countries in Europe and beyond have announced plans to expand their nuclear programmes or build new reactors.

As the pressure mounts for countries to start delivering on their decarbonisation goals and have a tighter grasp on their energy security, it begs the question: has “the road to net zero” become “the road to nuclear”?

In this week’s episode, Richard speaks to the Director General of the Nuclear Energy Agency about what has triggered this latest revival in nuclear, and how the private and public sectors will need to decide who takes on the financial risk of building new atomic reactors. 

Host: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel News

Guest: William D. Magwood, IV - Director General, Nuclear Energy Agency
Christopher Eales - France Editor, Montel News

Editor: Bled Maliqi, Montel
Producer: Sarah Knowles 

In this week’s episode we discuss how unprecedented global risks — from escalating trade tensions and hybrid warfare to rising populism — are reshaping Europe's energy markets. Statkraft's CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal shares insights into the company's approach to project prioritisation, reveals why the green transition will inevitably continue despite near-term hurdles and discusses how companies can build local support for renewables amid growing opposition. Birgitte also weighs in on Norway’s controversial market intervention, the fixed-price electricity retail contract, and addresses criticism around regulatory hurdles and delays to new capacity projects.

Host: Richard Sverrisson – Editor-in-Chief, Montel.
Guest: Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal – CEO, Statkraft; Gert Ove Mollestad, Editor Norway, Montel.

Podcast editor: Bled Maliqi, Montel. 

This week we explore the growing energy security challenges facing Europe amid a “seismic” shift in the global geopolitical order. In light of this, we discuss plans by the European Commission to support industry and keep energy affordable. Will these measures be enough to protect the continent from instability and price shocks? Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectric, weighs in on whether the bloc is moving fast enough to secure its energy future in an increasingly uncertain world, while pondering the role of flexibility in stabilising power markets and opines on how electric vehicles could be a game-changer for grid resilience. 

Host: Richard Sverrisson – Editor-in-Chief, Montel.
Guests: Kristian Ruby – Secretary General, Eurelectric; Fatima Sadouki, Energy Correspondent, Montel.

Podcast editor: Bled Maliqi, Montel. 

As Germany’s Christian Democrat alliance (CDU/CSU) is in talks about forming a new government with the Social Democrats, this week’s episode discusses the country’s role in the new global order. It comes against a backdrop where US president Donald Trump is abandoning old friends in Europe and proposing a trade war instead of aiding old allies. Not only could this have implications for US-sourced LNG but the new government in Berlin must make key decisions on the future of fossil fuels, the renewables transition and on whether to embrace hydrogen. The coalition will also have to deal with pressure from domestic industry and consumers demanding cheaper and more reliable power provision, as well as a backlash against wind turbines in the east of the country.

Host: Richard Sverrisson - Editor-in-Chief, Montel News.

Guest: Claudia Kemfert, Professor of Energy, Economics and Energy Policy at Leuphana University. She also heads the Energy, Transport, Environment Department at the German Institute for Economic Research.

Podcast editor: Bled Maliqi, Montel.