Energy Unplugged by Aurora

This week on the podcast, our USA Country Lead, Oliver Kerr is joined by Jon Wellinghoff, Former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and current Chief Regulatory Officer at Voltus, the world’s leading platform for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).  With a distinguished career in the US energy sector, Jon was the longest serving Chairman of FERC during the Obama administration after he was appointed first as a commissioner by George W Bush in 2006.  Jon and Oliver discuss: •The role of FERC and the Federal Government more broadly in the energy transition •The potential of demand-side response which remains a relatively small part of energy mix in US and the reason why haven’t we seen more progress  •Whether it is possible to reach Net Zero with renewables, efficiency and demand-side response, or do we also need supply-side investment in other low carbon generation like nuclear, CCS, hydrogen, long-duration storage Support the show

In this episode, we are honoured to welcome the 29th Prime Minister of Australia - Malcolm Turnbull, in a conversation with our CEO, John Feddersen.  Malcolm was the Prime Minister of Australia between 2015-2018, role in which he focussed heavily on decarbonisation. He announced and drove forward the Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped hydro project, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to entering politics he had successful careers as a lawyer, investment banker and journalist.  Malcolm and John discuss: •The importance of long duration storage and why isn’t the market delivering large volumes right now •The technological competition for long duration storage technologies •The impact of Russia-Ukraine war on the energy transition globally  •Whether energy sector policy is more difficult in Australia than elsewhere and why Support the show

In this episode, our CEO John Feddersen is joined by a veteran of the renewable energy industry - David Giordano, Global Head of Renewable Power at BlackRock.  David has joined the BlackRock team upon its formation in 2011 and has played a key role in the development of BlackRock’s renewables platform. With more than 20 years of investment experience, David serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Renewable Energy and is a Board member of the American Wind Energy Association.  John and David discuss: •The changes in the process of deploying capital into renewable in the past 20 years •ESG investing and where are we in measuring and evaluating ESG performance of companies and investment funds •Developing renewables in regulated and non-regulated markets  •The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the power industryNext week we welcome Malcolm Turnbull, Former Prime Minister of Australia. Stay tuned! Support the show

This week on Energy Unplugged, we discuss the role Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) could play in ensuring energy security in GB. Our Head of Commissioned Projects for Western Europe - Felix Chow-Kambitsch is joined by two Aurora experts: Emma Woodward, Senior Associate and Caroline Still, Associate.  Aurora has recently published a report on the topic, key findings can be found here: https://auroraer.com/insight/long-duration-electricity-storage-in-gb-2/ Felix, Emma and Caroline discuss: •The role LDES plays in an energy system •How much LDES do we need in the UK and what energy system implications would LDES have •The UK government’s cap-and-floor mechanism to support LDESNext week we will welcome David Giordano, Global Head of Renewable Power at BlackRock. Stay tuned! Support the show

This week, we have a special episode on Energy Unplugged in which our experts discuss the ongoing crisis in the European energy sector and the impact of Russia-Ukraine war on the European gas markets. Our Head of Commissioned Projects in Central Europe, Hanns Koenig is joined by Anise Ganbold who leads our research team for Commodities and Hydrogen. Anise and the team have been looking for the past couple of weeks into this topic and have been producing a couple of reports. One report which has been released this week examines how a drop in available Russian gas export capacity, or supply, to Europe affects the European supply mix.  More details can be found at: https://auroraer.com/insight/impact-of-ukraine-russia-conflict-on-european-gas-markets/ Anise and Hanns discuss: • A retrospective of what happened in the European gas market over the past few weeks • The European reliance on Russian gas and coal • The increase in gas and power prices and the impact on gas supply and demand Support the show

Kellie Metcalf from EnCap Investments discusses the impact of power crises on electricity market liberalization, importance of trading background for utility executives, and challenges in measuring ESG performance of companies and investment funds.

This week on Energy Unplugged we focus on energy data and digitalization. Our Managing Director for UK and Ireland, Dan Monzani is delighted to be joined by Laura Sandys, Non-Executive Director at SGN and at the Energy Systems Catapult. With a diverse career in energy and consumer’s rights, Laura has recently chaired two of the UK Government taskforces, one on energy data and the Energy Digitalization Taskforce which was recently launched by BEIS with the purpose to continue the Government’s focus on modernising the energy system. Dan and Laura discuss: •What would a world class digital energy system look like  •The main recommendations on data and the progress made since 2019 plus the recent recommendations on digitalisation  •The benefits of interoperability across the system •The need to rethink the role of the retail market as part of Net Zero Next week we will welcome Kellie Metcalf, Managing Partner, Energy Transition at EnCap Investments. Stay tuned! Support the show

In this episode, our CEO John Feddersen is joined by Pat Wood, III, former FERC Chairman and CEO at Hunt Energy Network.  With a distinguished career in energy and the public service, Pat has served as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the US under President George W. Bush, and of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). He holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. John & Pat discuss: * The role of the federal government in driving the push towards an increasingly clean, affordable and reliable power system * The biggest impediment to Biden’s plan to decarbonise the power grid by 2035 * The potential for batteries in the US power grid Next week on Energy Unplugged we will welcome Laura Sandys, Chair of the UK Government Energy Digitalisation Taskforce. Stay tuned! Support the show

In this episode, our Managing Director for UK and Ireland, Dan Monzani speaks to Louise Kingham, Senior Vice President for Europe & UK Head of Country at BP. Prior to joining BP in May 2021, Louise was the CEO of the Energy Institute for more than 20 years, role in which she had a unique broad perspective across the energy transition. Louise is one of the sixteen CEOs on the Energy Leaders’ Coalition, organised by Powerful Women, a major professional initiative that seeks to promote the growth and leadership development of women across the energy sector.  Dan and Louise discuss: * Affordability across Europe and how governments should manage the massive impact of rising energy prices on those on the lowest incomes * BP's committment to reach Net Zero by 2050 and their focus to help the world get there too * The most likely use cases for hydrogen, where is most likely to be a cost effective part of the transition and BP's new partnership with Aberdeen City Council  * Whether we are on track for the 40GW of offshore wind by 2030 target and what do we need to do to hit that Next week on Energy Unplugged we will welcome Pat Wood, III, CEO at Hunt Energy Network. Stay tuned! Support the show

In this episode, we’re taking a global perspective on the energy transition having as guests two experts in the field. Our Principal Benjamin Collie is joined by Sam Arie, Head of European Utilities Equity Research at UBS and Evangelos Gazis, Project Leader and Market Lead for South Eastern Europe at Aurora.  Aurora and UBS worked together in the last few years in preparing a report on the state of the global energy transition with focus on emissions from the power sector.  Main topics of the podcast include: •The scale of the challenge for investing to decarbonise •How much capital is needed to decarbonise some of the most difficult sectors and what are the implications for the global economy •The levels of carbon prices that might be needed across the economy to achieve the targets  •The progress made at COP26 and the most likely next steps to be made by COP27 Next week on Energy Unplugged we will welcome Louise Kingham, Senior Vice President for Europe and Head of Country in the UK at BP. Stay tuned! Support the show