Transmission

As demand for electricity skyrockets, large flexible loads like data centers and Bitcoin miners are reshaping how – and where – energy infrastructure is built. But integrating these loads into a grid already under pressure requires a rethink of both project development and power market participation.



In this episode of Transmission, Quentin is joined by Brock Petersen, COO at Satoshi Energy, to unpack how digital infrastructure is co-locating with renewables – and why that could unlock new opportunities for grid flexibility and clean energy investment.

From the load profiles of AI data centers to the geographic arbitrage of Bitcoin mining, this episode explores what these emerging industries mean for grid planning, transmission bottlenecks, and the economics of new build generation.


In this episode, you'll learn:

• How co-location unlocks stranded renewables: Why pairing flexible data center load with renewable assets helps monetize energy that would otherwise go unused.
• Bitcoin vs. AI load profiles: The key differences in cooling needs, flexibility, and infrastructure requirements.
• ERCOT’s load boom: What 135 GW of new load requests means for one of the world’s most dynamic power markets.
• The role of transmission and interconnection queues: How load-following strategies could help relieve pressure on grid infrastructure.
• What utilities and developers should know: Insights for navigating site selection, market design, and emerging opportunities in flexible load integration.

About our guest

Brock Petersen is the Chief Operating Officer of Satoshi Energy, a Houston-based energy technology company pioneering the integration of renewable energy with data center operations. Brock leads the company's strategy and execution, focusing on co-locating flexible data center loads with renewable energy assets.

Satoshi Energy has secured over 467 MW in contracted projects and is developing an additional 2,000 MW pipeline, aiming to enhance grid reliability and support sustainable energy investments.
For more information, check out their website.

https://satoshienergy.com/

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

As rooftop solar booms and the grid grows more complex, one question is gaining urgency: how do we store energy locally, efficiently, and in a way that benefits everyone?

Community batteries are emerging as one solution small-scale, shared storage systems designed to maximise solar self-consumption, reduce network strain, and deliver value back to neighbourhoods.

In this episode of Transmission, Wendel is joined by Graeme Martin - Founder of Village Power to take a closer look at the real-world deployment of community batteries in Australia.

From funding and grid integration to ownership models and consumer trust, this conversation explores what it takes to build energy infrastructure at street level and why that might be the key to a more resilient, inclusive electricity system.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What community batteries actually do and how they fit between household solar and grid-scale storage.
• The biggest roadblocks to rollout, from regulatory complexity to grid connection delays.
• Why customer experience and transparency matter, and how trust shapes participation.
• The economics of local storage, including how these systems are funded and who benefits.
• How community-led models can scale, and what Australia’s experience means for global grids.

About our guest

Graeme Martin is Founder and Director of Village Power, a volunteer-led community energy group based in Melbourne. With over 30 years in environmental science and geospatial consulting, Graeme has led the group’s multi-year campaign to install a community battery in Alphington/Fairfield. For more information on the work Village Power is doing - head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

As rooftop solar booms and the grid grows more complex, one question is gaining urgency: how do we store energy locally, efficiently, and in a way that benefits everyone?

Community batteries are emerging as one solution small-scale, shared storage systems designed to maximise solar self-consumption, reduce network strain, and deliver value back to neighbourhoods.

In this episode of Transmission, Wendel is joined by Graeme Martin - Founder of Village Power to take a closer look at the real-world deployment of community batteries in Australia.

From funding and grid integration to ownership models and consumer trust, this conversation explores what it takes to build energy infrastructure at street level and why that might be the key to a more resilient, inclusive electricity system.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What community batteries actually do and how they fit between household solar and grid-scale storage.
• The biggest roadblocks to rollout, from regulatory complexity to grid connection delays.
• Why customer experience and transparency matter, and how trust shapes participation.
• The economics of local storage, including how these systems are funded and who benefits.
• How community-led models can scale, and what Australia’s experience means for global grids.

About our guest

Graeme Martin is Founder and Director of Village Power, a volunteer-led community energy group based in Melbourne. With over 30 years in environmental science and geospatial consulting, Graeme has led the group’s multi-year campaign to install a community battery in Alphington/Fairfield. For more information on the work Village Power is doing - head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

As Europe accelerates toward a low-carbon electricity system, storage is under the spotlight. But while battery deployments are scaling quickly, long-duration assets like pumped hydro remain a crucial part of the flexibility mix.

So how do these technologies complement each other, and what’s really needed to make large-scale storage viable across different European markets?

In this episode of Transmission, Ed talks with Lukas Gresnigt (Member of Executive Board) and Nadiya Vargola (Head of BESS Business Development) at Alpiq.

Over the conversation they explore Alpiq’s approach to balancing legacy infrastructure with modern flexibility. From developing batteries across multiple markets to operating an 80-to-100 year lifespan pumped hydro plant in the Swiss Alps, this conversation dives into the commercial realities of grid-scale storage. You’ll hear how Alpiq is navigating cross-border market design, adapting gas peaker strategies in solar-saturated regions like Iberia, and structuring long-term investments in flexibility across Europe.

Key insights include:

• How pumped hydro and batteries complement each other, and where each technology shines
• What it takes to bring large storage projects to life, from decade-long build times to multigenerational returns
• How Alpiq is acquiring and developing BESS assets across European markets
• Why Iberia is a case study in flexibility, and how legacy gas assets are adapting to new solar peaks
• What market reforms are needed to unlock storage at the scale the energy transition demands

About our guests

Nadiya Vargola is Head of BESS Business Development at Alpiq. With over 12 years in the energy sector, she is a key part of Alpiq's core team in implementing flexibility strategy and is involved in building & managing Alpiq's portfolio of BESS opportunities across Europe.

Lukas Gresnigt is Head of International at Alpiq, overseeing the company’s activities outside Switzerland. His work focuses on expanding Alpiq’s commercial footprint across European energy markets, with a particular emphasis on flexibility, market access, and innovation.

For more information - head to Alpiq's website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

As Europe accelerates toward a low-carbon electricity system, storage is under the spotlight. But while battery deployments are scaling quickly, long-duration assets like pumped hydro remain a crucial part of the flexibility mix.

So how do these technologies complement each other, and what’s really needed to make large-scale storage viable across different European markets?

In this episode of Transmission, Ed talks with Lukas Gresnigt (Member of Executive Board) and Nadiya Vargola (Head of BESS Business Development) at Alpiq.

Over the conversation they explore Alpiq’s approach to balancing legacy infrastructure with modern flexibility. From developing batteries across multiple markets to operating an 80-to-100 year lifespan pumped hydro plant in the Swiss Alps, this conversation dives into the commercial realities of grid-scale storage. You’ll hear how Alpiq is navigating cross-border market design, adapting gas peaker strategies in solar-saturated regions like Iberia, and structuring long-term investments in flexibility across Europe.

Key insights include:

• How pumped hydro and batteries complement each other, and where each technology shines
• What it takes to bring large storage projects to life, from decade-long build times to multigenerational returns
• How Alpiq is acquiring and developing BESS assets across European markets
• Why Iberia is a case study in flexibility, and how legacy gas assets are adapting to new solar peaks
• What market reforms are needed to unlock storage at the scale the energy transition demands

About our guests

Nadiya Vargola is Head of BESS Business Development at Alpiq. With over 12 years in the energy sector, she is a key part of Alpiq's core team in implementing flexibility strategy and is involved in building & managing Alpiq's portfolio of BESS opportunities across Europe.

Lukas Gresnigt is Head of International at Alpiq, overseeing the company’s activities outside Switzerland. His work focuses on expanding Alpiq’s commercial footprint across European energy markets, with a particular emphasis on flexibility, market access, and innovation.

For more information - head to Alpiq's website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

Carbon accounting underpins nearly every climate commitment and energy market, but today’s system often misses the mark.

Most reporting is based on annual averages and generic certificates, ignoring when and where emissions are actually avoided.

That mismatch creates blind spots for investors, policymakers, and clean energy developers alike.

In this episode of Transmission, Quentin sits down with McGee Young, Founder & CEO at WattCarbon to explore how more accurate, time- and location-specific carbon data could transform the way we value clean energy.

From tracking real emissions impact to building virtual power plants at the community level, this is a conversation about making carbon accounting smarter, and climate action more meaningful.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why traditional carbon accounting is broken and how granular, real-time data can fix it.
• What time-stamped energy attributes are, and why they matter for valuing clean energy projects.
• How virtual power plants (VPPs) can unlock local flexibility, avoid expensive grid upgrades, and share value with communities.
• The case for ‘sleeved VPPs’, where large energy users fund local demand-side programs instead of building new capacity.
• How community-led decarbonisation could reshape climate finance and deliver impact from the ground up.

About our guest

McGee Young is founder and CEO of WattCarbon, a US-based company building the first platform for real-time, time-based carbon accounting and community-scale decarbonisation. At WattCarbon, he is delivering visibility into hourly carbon intensity and enabling more transparent, impact-driven carbon markets for buildings and energy projects. For more information about WattCarbons mission, head to their website. https://www.wattcarbon.com/

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

Carbon accounting underpins nearly every climate commitment and energy market, but today’s system often misses the mark.

Most reporting is based on annual averages and generic certificates, ignoring when and where emissions are actually avoided.

That mismatch creates blind spots for investors, policymakers, and clean energy developers alike.

In this episode of Transmission, Quentin sits down with McGee Young, Founder & CEO at WattCarbon to explore how more accurate, time- and location-specific carbon data could transform the way we value clean energy.

From tracking real emissions impact to building virtual power plants at the community level, this is a conversation about making carbon accounting smarter, and climate action more meaningful.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why traditional carbon accounting is broken and how granular, real-time data can fix it.
• What time-stamped energy attributes are, and why they matter for valuing clean energy projects.
• How virtual power plants (VPPs) can unlock local flexibility, avoid expensive grid upgrades, and share value with communities.
• The case for ‘sleeved VPPs’, where large energy users fund local demand-side programs instead of building new capacity.
• How community-led decarbonisation could reshape climate finance and deliver impact from the ground up.

About our guest

McGee Young is founder and CEO of WattCarbon, a US-based company building the first platform for real-time, time-based carbon accounting and community-scale decarbonisation. At WattCarbon, he is delivering visibility into hourly carbon intensity and enabling more transparent, impact-driven carbon markets for buildings and energy projects. For more information about WattCarbons mission, head to their website. https://www.wattcarbon.com/

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

As the UK works toward a fully decarbonised power system by 2035, one thing is clear: hitting climate targets will require a more flexible electricity system.

But that flexibility won’t just come from utility-scale batteries or grid-scale innovation. It will need support from consumers, households, businesses, and communities that can shift, shape, and reduce their electricity use.

In this episode of Transmission, Ed Porter is joined by Marzia Zafar, Deputy Director of Governance for Data & Digitalization at Ofgem, to explore why consumer flexibility is no longer just a nice-to-have, it’s now essential for grid stability, cost efficiency, and net-zero progress.

We dig into the economics behind demand-side response, the role of price signals and digital infrastructure, and the policy decisions needed to unlock this potential at scale. Whether you’re a system operator, innovator, or just trying to understand what demand flexibility actually means, this conversation is packed with insight.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why demand-side flexibility matters now more than ever, and how it supports both consumers and the system.
• The practical and policy steps needed to scale flexibility across millions of homes and businesses.
• How real-time price signals and automation can help shift consumer load and reduce system costs.
• The regulatory shift underway at Ofgem, and why this matters for innovators and aggregators.
• Why enabling consumer flexibility is a ‘no regrets’ decision for a decarbonised energy future.

About our guest

Marzia Zafar is Deputy Director of Strategy and Decarbonisation at Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator. With nearly three decades of experience across policy, utilities, and innovation, Marzia has worked on both sides of the Atlantic to design regulatory frameworks that support the clean energy transition. At Ofgem, she plays a leading role in shaping strategy around consumer flexibility, digitalisation, and system planning ensuring that market design keeps pace with the evolving needs of a net-zero grid. For more information on Ofgem - head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

As the UK works toward a fully decarbonised power system by 2035, one thing is clear: hitting climate targets will require a more flexible electricity system.

But that flexibility won’t just come from utility-scale batteries or grid-scale innovation. It will need support from consumers, households, businesses, and communities that can shift, shape, and reduce their electricity use.

In this episode of Transmission, Ed Porter is joined by Marzia Zafar, Deputy Director of Governance for Data & Digitalization at Ofgem, to explore why consumer flexibility is no longer just a nice-to-have, it’s now essential for grid stability, cost efficiency, and net-zero progress.

We dig into the economics behind demand-side response, the role of price signals and digital infrastructure, and the policy decisions needed to unlock this potential at scale. Whether you’re a system operator, innovator, or just trying to understand what demand flexibility actually means, this conversation is packed with insight.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why demand-side flexibility matters now more than ever, and how it supports both consumers and the system.
• The practical and policy steps needed to scale flexibility across millions of homes and businesses.
• How real-time price signals and automation can help shift consumer load and reduce system costs.
• The regulatory shift underway at Ofgem, and why this matters for innovators and aggregators.
• Why enabling consumer flexibility is a ‘no regrets’ decision for a decarbonised energy future.

About our guest

Marzia Zafar is Deputy Director of Strategy and Decarbonisation at Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator. With nearly three decades of experience across policy, utilities, and innovation, Marzia has worked on both sides of the Atlantic to design regulatory frameworks that support the clean energy transition. At Ofgem, she plays a leading role in shaping strategy around consumer flexibility, digitalisation, and system planning ensuring that market design keeps pace with the evolving needs of a net-zero grid. For more information on Ofgem - head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

Raising capital for grid-scale storage in Australia is a balancing act. Projects need to navigate volatile wholesale prices, tight grid constraints and uncertain policy timelines while still delivering reliable returns.

Government-backed green banks and specialist financiers have stepped in to bridge that gap, creating new structures that share merchant risk, widen the pool of lenders and move projects from concept to construction.

This episode of Transmission breaks down how innovative finance is

accelerating battery storage across the National Electricity Market. Modo Energy Director, Wendel Hortop sits down with Niall Brady - Head of Solar and Storage at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to explore the mechanics of concessional debt, profit-share structures and revenue floors, and examine how early deals paved the way for today’s multi gigawatt pipeline.

If you want to understand why capital remains a bottleneck for Australia’s energy transition and how the right instruments can unlock it, this conversation is for you.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why merchant risk still scares traditional lenders and how tailored debt packages make first-of-a-kind battery projects bankable

• How profit-share and upside mechanisms work to align public finance, private equity and project developers

• What makes an effective revenue stack in the NEM, including energy arbitrage, FCAS and emerging capacity payments

Lessons from Australia’s earliest solar-storage hybrids and how their financing models have evolved with falling capex and sharper price spreads

• The next frontiers for green finance, from long-duration storage to regional microgrids and community energy hubs

About our guest

Niall Brady is Head of Solar and Storage at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Australia’s $30 billion government-owned green bank. Niall leads investment strategy for large-scale PV and battery projects, structuring deals that de-risk merchant exposure and crowd in private capital. His portfolio covers Australia’s first utility-scale solar-storage hybrids as well as new market entrants targeting firmed renewable generation for the NEM. For more information on what the CEFC do - head to their website.

https://www.cefc.com.au/

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.