The Pexapark Podcast

Welcome back to the Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti is joined by Gerard Reid, founding partner at Alexa Capital and co-host of the Redefining Energy podcast, to discuss why Europe's renewable asset owners are under pressure and who will finance, run, and win with renewables next. Starting from Gerard's recent piece on why asset owners have fallen behind, and the insolvency of German developer and IPP Enerparc, the conversation explores how years of cheap capital turned renewable assets into financial products rather than energy assets.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why the yield compression model behind two decades of European renewables has run its course
• How cannibalization, negative prices, and high leverage are squeezing asset owners
• What owners need to change, from cutting holding company costs to adding batteries and creating demand around their assets
• Why legacy fund and SPV structures limit optimization, and why restructurings look likely
• Who could build the next-generation utility, from large utilities and PE-backed IPPs to traders and risk management specialists
• Why access to low-priced, green power will decide where offtake and new demand land

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence, sharing insights from the customer briefing in Milan. Italy became Europe's top solar PPA market for the first time in nine years of tracking, but largely thanks to state-backed schemes, as private deals dried up after regulatory intervention left a lasting risk premium. Solar capture rates remain strong at around 70%, and battery contracting is back, with two large tolling deals totaling 500 MW in the north. With MACSE and FER X auctions due in November and December, Italy remains one of Europe's most interesting markets for investors.

NOTES

The European Power Market Has Changed While Many Renewable Asset Owners Have Not

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti talks to Genna Boyle, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of EMEA at Gridcog, about how grid connection scarcity is reshaping project design across global energy markets. Gridcog builds simulation software that helps developers, IPPs, and large load clients model co-located and tri-located projects across more than 40 markets, giving Genna a rare cross-market view of what’s working. The conversation compares how Great Britain, Spain, Germany, and Australia are each tackling flexibility and grid utilization differently, and what markets can learn from one another as data center demand adds new pressure on the system.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why co-location and tri-location have emerged as leading answers to grid connection scarcity
• How market design accelerates or blocks flexibility, from Great Britain’s deep ancillary and capacity markets to Spain’s emerging capacity market
• Why Germany’s “green battery” model protects solar subsidies but misses the winter flexibility the grid needs most
• How collapsing solar capture rates and last year’s blackout are accelerating Spain’s shift toward storage and flexibility
• Why data center demand is prompting new rules, such as Spain’s proposed requirement that 80% of data center power be hourly time-matched
• What an ideal regulatory playbook would look like: maximizing use of scarce grid connections while keeping price signals strong enough to justify investment

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He looks at how long-term corporate offtake is reshaping nuclear power, with Pexapark tracking 14 GW of existing nuclear capacity now under new long-term contracts across the US, France, and Finland, more than three-quarters of it signed since January 2025. Every deal in the data set is tied to capex in an existing plant, whether a restart, continued operation, or a life extension, with hyperscalers accounting for roughly two-thirds of contracted capacity since 2025. Luca highlights Finland’s Loviisa deal as the clearest example, where Google’s demand is funding a life extension to 2050 on a plant covering nearly 10% of Finland’s power capacity, tied to a €12 billion data center investment.

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti talks to Michael Winterson, CEO of the European Data Centre Association, about how Europe’s data center industry plans to power its next stage of growth. Michael walks through why Europe’s data center market is only about half the size of the US and Chinese markets, why capital is no longer the industry’s bottleneck, and why grid access has become its single biggest constraint, along with why onsite gas generation, common in the US, has little traction in Europe.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why Europe’s data center market is about half the size of the US and China, even as growth accelerates to 15–20% a year
• How capital committed to European data centers has more than doubled year over year
• Why grid connection delays, not capital or demand, are now the industry’s central bottleneck
• Why onsite gas generation, common in the US, is not seen as a viable path forward in Europe
• How EU programs like the AI Gigafactory initiative and the Cloud and AI Development Act aim to reindustrialize sites and build sovereign digital infrastructure
• Why efficiency, sustainability, and additionality rules are making renewable PPAs central to how data centers get rated and permitted

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He looks at wind imbalance costs in the Nordics, which spiked in 2025 before easing through 2026 on 15-minute imbalance settlement, TSO actions, and new Aurora line transmission capacity into northern Sweden, though costs remain above pre-2025 levels in most markets. He then turns to Germany, where competition among direct marketers is compressing fees for solar and wind contracts, with some marketers now paying producers to take their power, particularly for wind in the southwest and, more unusually, for solar in the north.

NOTES

State of European Data Centres 2026 Report

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Welcome back to the Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti is joined by David Willemsen, Chief Commercial and Chief Digitalisation Officer at Tion Renewables, to discuss why the yieldco model that once defined listed IPPs is under strain, and what a next-generation IPP looks like when rebuilt from the ground up. The conversation covers how Tion has built out its commercial and energy management teams, why it now develops much of its revenue and reporting software in-house, and where David sees the limits of relying on AI without the right data foundation underneath it.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why listed IPPs and yieldcos have been trading below net asset value
• How EQT's 2023 takeover pushed Tion toward rigorous governance and a full IPP operating model
• How Tion structures its commercial, energy management, and data teams into a “revenue organization”
• What it means to run a “digital IPP,” and which software Tion now builds in-house instead of buying
• Why proprietary data, not the AI tools themselves, is becoming the real differentiator
• Why AI resilience, including provider independence and sound underlying data, matters as automation grows

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He looks at PJM, where an overhauled interconnection process has already qualified roughly 60 GW of battery storage capacity, positioning batteries as the leading resource by project count as capacity valuations climb toward record prices. He then turns to Southeastern Europe, where the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism pulled Western Balkan power prices sharply away from neighboring EU markets before partially converging in the second quarter. Luca highlights the resulting basis risk for cross-border PPAs benchmarked against EU prices, while noting that linking specific non-EU assets to EU buyers through PPAs could unlock new deal activity under the mechanism's rules. 

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti sits down with Alice Cajani, General Manager of Enfinity Energy Europe, to discuss how Italy has become one of Europe's most active and most complex renewables markets. Enfinity has built its Italian business on private PPAs – including deals with Microsoft and Volkswagen – while layering in government-backed mechanisms such as Energy Release and FER X. The conversation explores how these public and private routes to market are starting to overlap, and how the market is shifting from rigid round-the-clock PPAs toward profiled contracts that better match a buyer's real consumption.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why government schemes like Energy Release and FER X have driven a surge of activity in the Italian market, and how they are also reshaping pricing expectations for private PPAs
• How the Energy Release and FER X mechanisms are structured, and the trade-offs they present for developers, industrials, and investors
• Why the MACSE battery auction has struggled to deliver bankable pricing
• How the “Decreto Energia” intervention threatened to move Italian forward prices by as much as €30/MWh, and why deep regulatory expertise helped Enfinity stay ahead of the outcome
• Why the market is moving from round-the-clock renewable PPAs toward profiled PPAs that are built around a buyer's actual consumption curve
• How Enfinity Energy Europe is using merchant flexibility and portfolio aggregation to support the bankability of these new profiled structures

 In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence, drawing on the firm's first-half review of Europe's clean energy offtake market. After three years of decline, announced PPA volumes edged up 3% to 6.5 GW, even as standalone solar PPAs fell 42% on the back of widespread negative pricing, while mixed wind-and-solar deals more than doubled and offshore wind rebounded in Germany. Data centers and other tech buyers now account for over 40% of disclosed PPA volume, up from 30% a year ago. The standout story, though, is flexibility: disclosed battery offtake volumes reached nearly 6 GW as flexibility purchase agreements surged more than 180%, with Germany overtaking Great Britain as the leading market for battery tolling deals.

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

Luca Pedretti is joined by Jens Lievens, CEO, and Kathleen Peters, Product Owner for Energy Transition Services at E&C Group, to explore how corporate energy procurement is changing as volatility, on-site generation, and evolving risk profiles reshape the way businesses buy power. Drawing on E&C Group's experience supporting industrial companies across more than 100 countries, the conversation examines why traditional full-supply contracts are giving way to more active, data-driven approaches to managing energy costs and risk.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why traditional full-supply contracts have become less viable in today's energy market 
• How the energy crisis shifted profile risk from suppliers to corporate buyers 
• How behind-the-meter generation and PPAs are reshaping residual supply risk for corporates 
• How procurement strategies are evolving to incorporate greater flexibility and active risk management 
• Why data quality and accurate consumption forecasting are becoming critical to successful procurement 
• Why active energy management can turn increased procurement complexity into a competitive advantage

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

Luca Pedretti sits down with Phil Dominy, Director, and Arbaaz Nayeem, Assistant Director, at EY to discuss how corporate PPAs are evolving as buyers place greater emphasis on risk management, price certainty, and commercial flexibility. As market volatility increases and procurement strategies become more sophisticated, the conversation explores how corporate PPAs are adapting to changing sustainability frameworks, evolving commercial structures, and new approaches to managing market risk.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why corporate PPAs are increasingly viewed as risk management tools alongside sustainability objectives
• How price certainty is becoming the leading driver of corporate procurement decisions
• How evolving GHG Protocol and SBTi proposals could reshape corporate renewable procurement
• Why operational assets and baseload PPAs are gaining traction alongside new-build projects
• How retraded PPAs are helping generators unlock additional trading value
• Why active PPA management, collars, and TBx structures are emerging to help corporates better manage market exposure

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti sits down with Sean Boyle, Vice President of Markets at Doral Renewables LLC, to discuss how the US renewable energy market is evolving as AI-driven electricity demand, battery storage, and changing procurement strategies reshape renewable offtake. Drawing on Doral Renewables LLC's experience developing large-scale solar and storage projects across the US, the conversation explores how developers are adapting to changing buyer behavior, new contract structures, and the growing role of co-located solar and storage projects.

Key themes from the discussion include:

•  How AI-driven load growth is reshaping the US renewable PPA market 
•  Why large buyers are changing procurement strategies and contracting timelines 
•  How new capacity-focused procurement models are emerging alongside traditional PPAs 
•  Why co-located solar-plus-storage projects require new commercial structures 
•  How firming renewable generation with storage could reshape future offtake structures 
•  Why transmission constraints remain one of the biggest barriers to renewable deployment 

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He examines how Germany's BESS offtake market has accelerated in the first half of 2026, with contracted volumes already surpassing the total recorded in 2025. The discussion highlights growing demand for Flexibility Purchase Agreements (FPAs), with partial toll structures becoming increasingly common as developers balance financing requirements with merchant exposure. Luca also explores the rapid rise of co-located battery projects, which now account for more than 30% of Germany's BESS offtake market.

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti sits down with Dimitar Enchev, Executive Director at CWP Global, to discuss why Southeast Europe remains one of Europe's most compelling renewable energy markets. Drawing on CWP's extensive development pipeline across the region, the conversation explores how wind, battery storage, corporate PPAs, and evolving market integration are reshaping investment opportunities across both EU and non-EU countries.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why Southeast Europe continues to offer attractive opportunities for renewable investment
• How wind and battery storage create complementary value across the region's power markets
• How CBAM could accelerate corporate demand for renewable PPAs
• How growing market integration is reshaping pricing and trading opportunities
• Why storage and portfolio optimization are becoming critical competitive advantages
• Why flexibility will play an increasingly important role as renewable markets mature

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence, highlighting the key themes from Pexapark's latest German market briefing. He examines continued pressure on solar PPA pricing, the growing role of co-located storage, the maturation of BESS financing through Flexibility Purchase Agreements (FPAs), and shifting regulatory frameworks supporting renewable development. The discussion also touches on Great Britain's corporate PPA market, where buyers are increasingly turning to operational assets as premiums for new-build projects continue to rise. The takeaway: across Europe's most active renewable markets, storage, flexibility, and evolving offtake structures are becoming central to project economics and investment decisions.

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Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!

In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti is joined by Jordi Francesch, Managing Director and Global Head of Asset Management at Nuveen, to discuss how renewable investors are navigating a market defined by falling capture prices, rising volatility, curtailment, and growing regulatory complexity. Drawing on experience managing a portfolio of more than 5 GW of solar and storage assets across multiple markets, Jordi shares his perspective on value creation, risk management, and the evolving role of battery storage in the energy transition.

Key themes from the discussion include:

• Why renewable investing has shifted from financial engineering back to operational excellence
• How risk management, regulation, and revenue optimization have become critical value drivers
• Why asset quality and location matter more as capture rates decline
• How evolving revenue stacks are changing renewable and storage investment strategies
• The growing importance of BESS for both renewable portfolios and grid integration
• Why Italy, Spain, and Germany are taking different approaches to market design and flexibility

In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He reviews several major developments across renewable energy, storage, and power markets, beginning with SoftBank’s plans to invest up to €75 billion in French data center infrastructure. The discussion highlights the growing importance of large-scale power demand from digital infrastructure and the implications for future electricity consumption. The broader takeaway: new sources of demand are becoming an increasingly important consideration for renewable developers, investors, and power markets across Europe.

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