Networking In Energy Sector

Grid bottlenecks are a feature — not a bug — of the energy transition. For years, we viewed economics as the main hurdle to scaling clean energy. High costs for wind, solar, heat pumps, and storage dominated the conversation. But the world has changed. Thanks to extraordinary innovation and dramatic cost reductions in renewables and electrification technologies, the bottlenecks we face today are different. They’re no longer about whether clean energy is affordable — it is. Instead, the challenge is whether our energy systems can evolve quickly enough to integrate it. A recent Financial Times piece highlights this clearly: across Europe, the rapid build-out of renewable generation now outpaces the ability of grids to move electricity to where it’s needed. Curtailment, congestion, and long queues for grid connections already cost billions annually — and without decisive action, these costs will grow. This isn’t a sign of failure. It’s a sign of success. It means the transition is happening faster than the infrastructure built for the fossil era can handle. The rise of decentralised, variable renewables and electrified heating and transport requires a fundamentally different approach to planning — one that anticipates growth rather than reacts to it. The EU’s move toward more coordinated, top-down scenario building and cross-border grid planning recognises exactly this. Better alignment between countries and system operators, faster permitting, and prioritisation of critical projects are essential steps to unlock the full value of cheap clean energy. Because every euro lost to bottlenecks is not a cost of climate action — it’s a cost of not modernising our grids fast enough. The more successful we are in deploying renewables and electrification, the more urgently we must upgrade and expand our grids. Grid constraints are not a reason to slow down. They’re a reason to speed up the transformation of an energy system that was never designed for the technologies now powering our transition.

Energy policy ideas for the next European Commission, organized around 4 high level objectives. 👇 👉 First objective: Make Member States more accountable to live up to their national investment potential for energy efficiency and renewable energy. ✅ An EU Energy and Climate Plan with investment progress tracking and recommendations for Member States. It can help counter the fragmented reporting we currently have, and the recommendations can also promote cross-border cooperation. ✅ Existing EU funding for Member States, such as the EU Regional Development Fund, the EU Cohesion Fund, or the NextGenerationEU instrument, could be (partly) redirected towards renewable energy and energy efficiency investment. ✅ A dedicated EU fund could be set up to directly finance projects in Member States that have an abundance of renewable energy resources, but lack the public budgets to support the investments. Member States that have the economic strength, but do not have the renewable energy resources, or do not live up to their investment potential at the national level, could be expected to contribute to the fund. 👉 Second objective: Promote multilateral cooperation (and solidarity) among Member States for network infrastructure, resource adequacy and flexibility. ✅ Modernization and Europeanization of capacity mechanisms ✅ Upgraded European Resource Adequacy Assessment (ERAA) beyond adequacy and electricity. ✅ A top-down EU Network Vision and new instruments for network cost allocation. 👉 Third objective: Strengthen the management of our global dependencies (beyond the Net Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act) ✅ Need for specialized agencies that are competent to help manage these security risks. ✅ Next Multiannual Financial Framework in 2028: Do we want this to be our apollo program? ✅ Compulsory origin labelling or marking could engage customers to be part of the solution. 👉 Fourth objective: Reinforce the EU institutional setup ✅ More organized capacity building for national administrations via DG Reform. ✅ Stronger energy system analysis competences and resources for ACER to improve the technology neutrality of the Ten Year Network Development Plan and ERAA. ✅ Reinforced ACER and creation of EU Energy Networks Entity for system planning; and new instruments for network cost allocation. ✅ EU Energy Agency or extended ACER to manage the EU Energy and Climate Plan and to replace the European net zero platform and the European Critical Raw Materials Board. Presentation from last Friday at EGMONT - Royal Institute for International Relations in an event co-organized with European University Institute for the incoming Belgian Presidency of the European Council. Many thanks to the panel Nancy MAHIEU, Frederic Dunon, and Paula Abreu Marques, and the participants for a great discussion. If you prefer to read the policy brief: https://lnkd.in/eu93Vt25

The biggest obstacle to energy transition is not technology. It is engineering reality. After working across oil & gas, renewables, and power systems, I have reached a conclusion that many people may not like: We spend too much time discussing how to generate clean energy. And not enough time discussing how to deliver reliable energy. The world celebrates new solar farms. New wind farms. New hydrogen projects. New carbon capture announcements. But industries, LNG plants, data centres, hospitals, and cities operate on a much simpler requirement: The lights must stay on. Every second. Every day. Without exception. That is where the conversation becomes uncomfortable. Because energy transition is not a generation problem. It is an integration problem. A stability problem. A transmission problem. A storage problem. And ultimately, a risk management problem. Adding renewable capacity is relatively easy. Maintaining reliability while integrating intermittent generation at scale is not. Recent developments across Asia reinforce this reality. Energy demand continues to surge, driven by industrialisation, urbanisation, electrification, and the rapid growth of AI infrastructure. At the same time, disruptions to global energy supply chains have reminded us that energy security cannot be measured by installed capacity alone. It must be measured by resilience. By flexibility. By the ability to absorb shocks without compromising reliability. This is why natural gas and LNG remain strategically important. Not because they are the final destination. But because they help bridge the gap between ambition and operational reality. The uncomfortable truth is that physics does not negotiate. Power systems do not respond to narratives. Electric grids respond to engineering. The future will not belong to those who produce the most energy. It will belong to those who can integrate hydrocarbons, renewables, hydrogen, storage, carbon management, and transmission into one reliable system. Because society does not run on energy capacity. It runs on energy availability. This is also why discussions around energy security, LNG, grid resilience, and system integration are becoming increasingly important at forums such as Gastech Exhibition & Conference 2026, where industry leaders are examining how to build energy systems that are not only cleaner, but also more reliable and resilient. What do you think is the most underestimated challenge in the energy transition today? #EnergyTransition #EnergySecurity #LNG #Gastech2026

Hotspot when Navigating the Energy Transition ! Where is the value in " co-optimizing gas and electricity network planning for decarbonization"??? As energy networks utilities navigate the climate change mitigation policies, Energy system modelers and planners must develop strategies for achieving cost-effective Coordinated planning for electricity and natural gas systems investments that address cross –sector operational constraints, competing demands for net-zero emissions fuels, and shifts in energy consumption patterns. In this context, and In order to rapidly integrate substantial productions from renewable energy sources like - renewable gases and renewable electricity sources- to meet those challenge, it is imperative for electricity and gas network utilities to co-optimize the planning and delivery of network infrastructure, ensuring predictability for customers as they navigate the complex transition to a sustainable energy future. Some Key Components of such effective co-optimization should cover: 1. Effective regulatory frameworks to afford market integration which is vital to create an attractive environment for effective investments. Transparent policies will facilitate the integration of renewable sources while ensuring reliability and affordability for consumers. 2. crucial and pivotal roles of "elec., gas" Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Distribution System Operators (DSOs) must be coherent and aligned to collaboratively enhance capacity management. This synergy will optimize the flow of energy, accommodate fluctuating renewable generation, and maintain both grids dispatchability and stability. 3. increasing the renewable energy production capacity, makes managing this influx is crucial. therefore, Strategic co-optimized modeling and planning of both energy grids will ensure stable handling of peak loads and diverse energy sources without compromising service reliability. 4. Tariff Structures: Evolving inclusive tariff structures will play a significant role in incentivizing investments in both gas and electricity networks. Fair pricing mechanisms are essential to stimulate growth while promoting sustainable energy practices. 5. Investment Planning: Coordinated investment planning across gas and electricity sectors is critical. Prioritizing infrastructure projects that enhance integration and resilience will pave the way for a more robust energy affordability. 6. The Role of Hydrogen and Power-to-X (PTX): Hydrogen and PTX technologies represent a promising avenue for energy transition by leveraging adoption of such solutions to store excess renewable energy and provide flexibility to energy systems, as well as effectively contribute to decarbonization efforts. Indeed …co-optimizing gas and electricity network infrastructure is a critical and strategic job! #EnergyTransition #Decarbonization  #RenewableEnergy #Hydrogen #MarketRegulation #CapacityManagement #InvestmentPlanning

Energy access is essential. So is digital inclusion. And their real impact comes when we stop treating them as separate challenges... I’m proud to share our new piece in BusinessDay — “Powering Africa’s Twin Transitions” — co-authored with GOGLA CEO Sarah Malm. For years, I’ve been advocating a simple but often overlooked truth: you can’t deliver meaningful digital inclusion without reliable energy, and energy access itself becomes far more transformative when coupled with digital connectivity. These two transitions amplify each other, and when they move in tandem, they create opportunity at scale. For over a decade, whether it's through the birth and take-off of pay-as-you-go solar home systems, ABC models for mini-grids or smart metering, I have seen firsthand how power + connectivity change lives. This is why we’ve championed this intersection for so long at GSMA - Mobile for Development and why I’ll keep pushing for it way beyond my tenure at GSMA. The win transition - in Africa and beyond - is not just necessary: it represents one of the continent’s clearest development accelerators. Thanks to Sarah and the GOGLA team for our longstanding partnership, and to GSMA M4D's Digital Utilities for 15+ years of advocacy on the topic. Read the full article 👇

For most of the last century, generators stabilised the grid as a by-product of producing energy. Today, we are building assets that stabilise the grid without producing energy at all. That shift identifies the binding constraint. Electricity system transition is no longer constrained by renewable resource availability. It is constrained by deliverability and operability. In inverter-dominated systems under rapid load growth, the binding constraints are: - transmission and major substation capacity - system strength, fault levels, frequency and voltage control - connection and commissioning throughput - secure operation under worst-day conditions - execution pace across networks and system services Generation capacity remains necessary. On its own, it no longer delivers firm supply or supports large new loads. Historically, synchronous generators supplied energy and stability together. Inertia, fault current, voltage support, and controllability were implicit. As synchronous plant retires, these services must be provided explicitly. Stability shifts from physics-led to control-led. System behaviour becomes more sensitive to modelling accuracy, protection coordination, control settings, and real-time visibility. Curtailment is not excess energy. It is a deliverability or security constraint. When transmission and substations lag generation, congestion and curtailment rise. Independent analysis shows that delay increases prices and emissions by extending reliance on higher-cost thermal generation. Distribution networks are no longer passive. They now host distributed generation, storage, EV charging, and large loads at the edge of transmission. Voltage control, protection coordination, hosting capacity, and connection throughput now constrain both decarbonisation and industrial growth. Firming is a hard requirement. Batteries provide fast frequency response and contingency arrest. They do not provide multi-day energy and do not replace networks or system strength in weak grids. Demand response reduces peaks. It cannot be relied upon for system-wide security under stress. Execution speed is critical. Slow delivery increases congestion duration, curtailment exposure, reserve requirements, and reliance on ageing plant. These effects flow directly into costs, emissions, and reliability. This is why electricity bills can rise even when average wholesale prices fall. Costs are driven by peak demand, contingencies, and security, not average energy. Large digital and industrial loads are transmission-scale, continuous, and failure-intolerant. They increase contingency size and correlation risk. At that scale, loads do not connect to the grid, they shape it. Supporting growth requires time-to-power, transmission and substation capacity in load corridors, explicit system strength and fault levels, operable firming under worst-day conditions, scalable connection and commissioning, and early procurement of long lead time HV equipment. #energy

CEO or CFO: “Is this event really worth us spending $20K?” Marketing/Comms/Sales lead: “I really think so… it’s in [insert cool city], so it’ll be great for morale and culture either way!” Yeah. That’s really not gonna cut it anymore. Budgets are tighter. ROI expectations are much higher. And “it’s in Napa” isn’t a business case. Here’s the real decision framework I use with clients to decide whether a conference, symposium, or sponsorship is worth it — before anyone books a single flight or hotel. 1️⃣ Clients and Customers If your current clients expect to see you there, that’s great. But show up with a real plan, not just a lanyard. A 30-minute coffee with a top client > three generic panels combined. 2️⃣ Prospects Will actual decision-makers (not “Business Development Associates”) be there? If not, it’s not a growth event — it’s a vacation in disguise. 3️⃣ Media Value CES, HLTH, Davos, JP Morgan, = tier 1 press magnets. Other have decent value for trade press. Most others? Not so much. If there’s no chance for earned coverage, deskside interviews, or content leverage, rethink the spend. 4️⃣ The $20K Question Flights + hotels + sponsorships add up fast. Ask: “What would this same money buy in paid, owned, or earned media instead?” What would it buy in recruiting and retention? 5️⃣ Location, Location… ROI? There’s a world of difference between Orlando and Singapore. If it’s overseas, it better be because your market or investors are too. 6️⃣ Launchpad or Lull? Announcing a major product, partnership, or data release? Then yes, the stage might be worth it — but only with real prep and a comms plan, not a last-minute deck. 7️⃣ Competitive FOMO If your competitors are sponsoring, don’t reflexively follow. If your customers aren’t there, let the competitors waste their budgets. If they are there, remember my rule: you’re either at the table or on the menu. 8️⃣ Thought Leadership vs. Thought Decoration Being “on a panel” isn’t thought leadership. If it doesn’t build credibility, create content, or advance policy or sales, it’s ego spend. 9️⃣ Life ROI If it means missing your big kid’s recital, sports championship game, or a big nonprofit board meeting, consider skipping it. No award ribbon for most frequent flier. ⸻ The best conference strategies balance impact, influence, budget, and time. Done right, they accelerate relationships and reputation. Done wrong, they just drain both. 👉 What’s your first filter when deciding whether a conference is worth it? (And yes, if you want to build an internal decision matrix or stakeholder map before 2026 conference season, hit me up. Happy Saturday, now time for a workout.

The power grid could become the biggest bottleneck of Europe’s energy transition Europe is accelerating its renewable deployment, but a critical limit is becoming increasingly clear: the grid. According to a recent report by Ember (https://lnkd.in/eDPBivRa), insufficient electricity network capacity could become the main constraint on both energy security and decarbonisation. The scale of the challenge is striking. Today, more than 800 GW of renewable projects are waiting for grid connection across Europe, a figure that is several times higher than annual installed capacity and highlights a structural issue: grid expansion is not keeping pace with generation growth. The investment gap is significant. To meet climate targets, grid investment will need to reach €584 billion by 2030, nearly double the current pace. Timing is also a critical factor. While renewable projects can typically be built in 1–3 years, new grid infrastructure often takes 5–10 years, creating a mismatch that delays the integration of new capacity. This bottleneck has direct consequences. Without sufficient grid capacity, not only is renewable deployment delayed, but the electrification of key sectors such as industry and transport is also constrained. The report also highlights a planning challenge. Much of today’s grid was designed for a centralised system, whereas the emerging energy model is more distributed, digital and variable, requiring a fundamental transformation of infrastructure. At the same time, pressure on energy security is increasing. Without a robust and flexible grid, Europe risks being unable to manage renewable variability effectively or guarantee supply during critical periods. The conclusion is clear: the energy transition challenge is no longer just about generating clean power, but about transporting and managing it efficiently. With hundreds of gigawatts awaiting connection and investment needs approaching €600 billion, the power grid is becoming the key factor that will ultimately determine the pace of Europe’s energy transition.

The clean energy transition has a fossil fuel problem, and it is worth reflecting on this for a moment. A recent FT piece lays it out plainly (see link in the comments). Sulphuric acid, derived largely from Gulf oil and gas, is the connective tissue across nickel, copper, cobalt, lithium and phosphate fertiliser, which means the energy transition and global food security are drawing on the same input, routed through the same vulnerable chokepoint. Indonesia's nickel refiners are already cutting output. Manganese mining in Gabon and South Africa runs on diesel. Solar modules depend on aluminium, and Gulf smelters have sustained damage during the conflict. Renewable developers, with capital-heavy, debt-funded models, feel every move in interest rates. None of this weakens the case for the #EnergyTransition. If anything, it sharpens it. But it does ask those of us working in this space to take an honest look at it. A few things I keep coming back to: 🔹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 is part of the transition, not an add-on. Diversifying critical mineral supply chains and rethinking process inputs like sulphur protects decarbonisation rather than distracting from it. 🔹 This is an 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗽, not a swap. Fossil fuel dependencies will be embedded in clean tech production for years. And addressing it directly sharpens strategy. Pretending otherwise rarely does. 🔹 𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 quietly does a lot of the heavy lifting. Recycling critical minerals, electrifying mining fleets, locating refining closer to renewable power, all of it reduces the fossil exposure of clean energy itself. 🔹 And 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿 matters more than it usually gets credit for. Insurance, parametric cover and credit enhancement are part of what keeps transition projects financeable when the world gets volatile. The transition is not harder than we thought. It is more connected than we sometimes admit. Building it well means engineering for the system we have, not the one we wish we had.

Attended one the biggest Pharma conferences RSSDI this week and over the years, I’ve realised pharma conferences are far more than exhibition halls and scientific sessions. They’re real-time classrooms for Product Management Teams (PMTs) to sharpen their market sense and evolve brand thinking. However sometimes I feel that PMT team members are clueless about thier role and what should they actually do in such conferences. If you’re part of a PMT heading to a conference, here’s what I believe truly makes the visit worthwhile 👇 🎯 1. Walk in with a purpose Don’t just “attend.” Go with clear questions — What new therapy trends are emerging? What’s working for competitors? How are brands communicating science differently? When you’re intentional, every stall and session starts offering insights. Go with a few survey questions for your own brands so that you can get a structured feedback from Doctors 🧭 2. Observe how brands are telling stories In India’s branded generic space, storytelling is everything. Watch how others are weaving science, emotion, and simplicity together especially how they’re engaging doctors and building recall. 🤝 3. Don’t just network — converse Conferences bring together doctors, agencies, digital partners, and peers. Instead of just exchanging cards, have genuine conversations. Ask what’s changing in HCP engagement, or what gaps they see in patient education — those nuggets often spark the next big campaign idea. When doctors attend conferences you have an opportunity to actually have a conversation for much more time than what you will get inclinic and in a much relaxed environment. 🕵️ 4. Decode competitors smartly Every booth tells a story — their communication tone, therapy focus, even the kind of digital tools they showcase. Small observations can reveal big strategic directions. RSSDI this year gave a clear indication on how the market is going to shift after Semaglutide LOE, which players are making a move to be a prominent player in anti obesity market! 📑 5. Bring the insights back The real value lies in what you do after the conference. Attend scientific sessions related to your therapy, see what is the important data being presented and what matters to the clinical practice of the doctors… which session is getting most response from the doctors Summarize your learnings, share them with your team, and see which ideas can be adapted for your brands. 🚀 6. Stay curious India’s pharma landscape is changing fast … from omnichannel HCP engagement to digital patient support. Conferences are a great reminder that innovation doesn’t always mean “big”, sometimes it’s just about seeing things differently. Conferences aren’t a break from brand work — they fuel it. If PMTs treat every visit as a learning mission, they’ll come back not just with brochures, but with ideas that move brands forward. #PharmaMarketing #PMT #IndianPharma #Leadership #BrandStrategy #HealthcareInnovation #RSSDI #conferences