
Hosted by Ed Porter, Modo Energy · EN

Most battery revenue projections stop at the day-ahead auction. But the optimisers running multi-gigawatt BESS portfolios argue that's where the money is being left on the table - re-trading a battery through intraday, balancing, and ancillary services can add 50% or more to revenue, and battery offtake structures like floors, tolls, and swaps only make sense once you understand how that value actually gets captured.In this episode of Transmission, Ed Porter sits down with Brian Lonn, Head of UK Flexibility at Statkraft, to break down how a multi-gigawatt battery optimisation desk actually trades batteries and the offtake structures it offers on top.They cover:How battery re-trading works in practice.How Statkraft scaled its GB flex portfolio from 22MW of intraday-active battery volume to ~4.5GW under contract and why this scale is the precondition for offering offtake at all.Why the battery optimisation market could consolidate and what that means for smaller optimisers and asset owners.How battery floors, tolls, and day-ahead swaps differ in tenor and purpose, with a working £/MW ballpark for each on a 2-hour battery.Brian's contrarian view on Clean Power 2030: why the real question for the GB power system is megawatt-hours, not megawatts.Want sharper answers on battery storage markets? Ko is Modo Energy's AI analyst, built on our underlying data and research. Ask Ko anything: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=brian_lonn&utm_content=ko_signupRead the companion article: [COMPANION ARTICLE URL — TBC]You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday. Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Ed Porter - Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.00:00 Introduction01:06 What everyone gets wrong about battery asset optimisation05:14 Statkraft's GB flex portfolio — scaling to 4.5GW07:24 Inside a battery trading desk — the operational reality10:02 Re-trading explained — and the £100 to £150 worked example16:49 How algorithmic intraday battery trading has evolved19:50 Re-trading uplift — 50%+ over day-ahead-only battery revenue22:14 The balancing mechanism and NESO's role in battery dispatch29:58 Battery offtake structures — floors, tolls, and day-ahead swaps37:35 Co-location — solar and battery storage in the GB market45:36 How to break into battery asset optimisation and energy trading49:04 Brian's contrarian view — megawatts vs megawatt-hours50:03 Why battery augmentation matters for Clean Power 2030Music licensed via Artlist.

The scope of the National Energy System Operator - or NESO - has expanded from running the electricity system to planning Britain's whole energy system across electricity, gas and hydrogen, all while delivering connections reform and steering toward Clean Power 2030. That transformation is reshaping everything from how Britain plans its grid 20 years out to how it keeps the lights on tonight. Ed Porter is joined by Kayte O'Neill, Chief Operating Officer at the National Energy System Operator (NESO), for a wide-ranging conversation on the biggest changes in the GB power market: grid connections reform, the battery storage queue, zero-carbon grid operation, and the next wave of electricity market design.They cover:Connections reform and the UK grid queue — how NESO has cut the 800GW queue down to a deliverable pipeline and what Gate 2 means for developers over the next 12 months.The battery storage connections queue and how NESO is thinking about attrition, bay sharing and co-location.Zero-carbon operation of the GB grid and why gas plants still run on windy, sunny days (stability services, inertia, grid-forming inverters)NESO's expanded whole-system role - strategic planning across electricity, gas and hydrogen, and the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP)Reformed National Pricing, data centre demand connections, AI in the control room, and the £40bn/year investment unlock at stake.Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI energy analyst, your questions on UK grid operations and BESS markets: Sign up hereTranscript available hereHosted by Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.Chapters:00:00 - Intro: what people get wrong about NESO04:15 - NESO's new role in gas security of supply05:49 - The summer outlook and GB's low-demand operability problem07:48 - Why gas still runs on the GB grid on windy, sunny days09:49 - Stability services and the path to zero-carbon grid operation11:03 - The 97.7% zero-carbon record on 1 April 202512:40 - Stability pathfinders, inertia markets and grid-forming inverters17:04 - The winter challenge: gigawatts vs terawatt-hours21:33 - Connections reform: from 800GW to a deliverable grid23:54 - What connections reform means for developers next26:01 - The skilled-labour bottleneck behind grid build-out30:32 - Battery queue attrition and the BESS oversupply problem33:51 - The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP)38:59 - Co-location and bay sharing: the unfinished reform44:35 - Reformed National Pricing and GB electricity market reform49:13 - Data, digital and AI in the NESO control room51:44 - The 2026 Operability Strategy Report and Markets Roadmap52:24 - A contrarian case for connections reformMusic licensed via Artlist.

The scope of the National Energy System Operator - or NESO - has expanded from running the electricity system to planning Britain's whole energy system across electricity, gas and hydrogen, all while delivering connections reform and steering toward Clean Power 2030. That transformation is reshaping everything from how Britain plans its grid 20 years out to how it keeps the lights on tonight. Ed Porter is joined by Kayte O'Neill, Chief Operating Officer at the National Energy System Operator (NESO), for a wide-ranging conversation on the biggest changes in the GB power market: grid connections reform, the battery storage queue, zero-carbon grid operation, and the next wave of electricity market design.They cover:Connections reform and the UK grid queue — how NESO has cut the 800GW queue down to a deliverable pipeline and what Gate 2 means for developers over the next 12 months.The battery storage connections queue and how NESO is thinking about attrition, bay sharing and co-location.Zero-carbon operation of the GB grid and why gas plants still run on windy, sunny days (stability services, inertia, grid-forming inverters)NESO's expanded whole-system role - strategic planning across electricity, gas and hydrogen, and the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP)Reformed National Pricing, data centre demand connections, AI in the control room, and the £40bn/year investment unlock at stake.Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI energy analyst, your questions on UK grid operations and BESS markets: Sign up hereTranscript available hereHosted by Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.Chapters:00:00 - Intro: what people get wrong about NESO04:15 - NESO's new role in gas security of supply05:49 - The summer outlook and GB's low-demand operability problem07:48 - Why gas still runs on the GB grid on windy, sunny days09:49 - Stability services and the path to zero-carbon grid operation11:03 - The 97.7% zero-carbon record on 1 April 202512:40 - Stability pathfinders, inertia markets and grid-forming inverters17:04 - The winter challenge: gigawatts vs terawatt-hours21:33 - Connections reform: from 800GW to a deliverable grid23:54 - What connections reform means for developers next26:01 - The skilled-labour bottleneck behind grid build-out30:32 - Battery queue attrition and the BESS oversupply problem33:51 - The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP)38:59 - Co-location and bay sharing: the unfinished reform44:35 - Reformed National Pricing and GB electricity market reform49:13 - Data, digital and AI in the NESO control room51:44 - The 2026 Operability Strategy Report and Markets Roadmap52:24 - A contrarian case for connections reformMusic licensed via Artlist.

Three years ago, the best price for a ready-to-build solar project in Spain was €200,000 per megawatt — today it is €50,000. Batteries have moved the opposite way, with ready-to-build prices climbing to around €100,000 per megawatt and a 30GW pipeline now stacking up behind them.Ed Porter sits down with Carmen Izquierdo Serrano, founder of nTeaser, the renewable energy marketplace where many of Spain's BESS, solar, and co-located deals are transacting, to unpack what those numbers actually mean for investors entering the Spanish power market and how the post-blackout urgency, and bottlenecks in financing and labour will shape who wins the next phase of Spain's energy transitionThey cover:Why Spanish solar ready-to-build prices have collapsed from €200,000 to €50,000 per megawatt while battery prices have climbed to ~€100,000 per megawatt in the space of three yearsHow the 30GW Spain BESS pipeline stacks up against the ~3.5GW expected to be operating by 2030, and why Carmen thinks that operating-asset forecast is conservativeWhere the real bottleneck is for delivery - not developers or permits, but bank financing and the skilled labour needed to construct the projectsWhy Italy's BESS market has slowed after the first MACSE auction while Spain has accelerated, and what that means for capital allocation across Southern Europe.How buyer expectations on arbitrage revenues are likely to be cannibalised as more batteries enter the market, and which revenue streams banks will actually finance againstWant to go deeper on Spanish BESS revenues? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, can walk you through asset-specific forecasts: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=carmen_izquierdo&utm_content=ko_signupChapters:0:00 - Spain solar prices crashed from €200K to €50K per MW1:10 - Why the Spain BESS market is misunderstood2:35 - Spain's 30GW battery storage pipeline explained3:25 - Inside nTeaser: Spain's renewable energy M&A platform5:00 - Is the 3.5GW Spain battery forecast for 2030 too low?7:50 - Spain BESS bottlenecks: bank financing and labour10:00 - Who is buying Spanish battery projects in 202612:50 - Spain vs Italy BESS: the MACSE auction setback15:00 - Data centres and behind-the-meter co-location in Spain18:00 - When Spain battery projects become bankable19:30 - Spain capacity market timing and revenue impact20:30 - BESS arbitrage cannibalisation and revenue stacking21:45 - Poland, Romania, and BESS expansion across Europe23:30 - How nTeaser is changing European renewables M&ATransmission is a Modo Energy podcast hosted by Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.

Three years ago, the best price for a ready-to-build solar project in Spain was €200,000 per megawatt — today it is €50,000. Batteries have moved the opposite way, with ready-to-build prices climbing to around €100,000 per megawatt and a 30GW pipeline now stacking up behind them.Ed Porter sits down with Carmen Izquierdo Serrano, founder of nTeaser, the renewable energy marketplace where many of Spain's BESS, solar, and co-located deals are transacting, to unpack what those numbers actually mean for investors entering the Spanish power market and how the post-blackout urgency, and bottlenecks in financing and labour will shape who wins the next phase of Spain's energy transitionThey cover:Why Spanish solar ready-to-build prices have collapsed from €200,000 to €50,000 per megawatt while battery prices have climbed to ~€100,000 per megawatt in the space of three yearsHow the 30GW Spain BESS pipeline stacks up against the ~3.5GW expected to be operating by 2030, and why Carmen thinks that operating-asset forecast is conservativeWhere the real bottleneck is for delivery - not developers or permits, but bank financing and the skilled labour needed to construct the projectsWhy Italy's BESS market has slowed after the first MACSE auction while Spain has accelerated, and what that means for capital allocation across Southern Europe.How buyer expectations on arbitrage revenues are likely to be cannibalised as more batteries enter the market, and which revenue streams banks will actually finance againstWant to go deeper on Spanish BESS revenues? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, can walk you through asset-specific forecasts: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=carmen_izquierdo&utm_content=ko_signupChapters:0:00 - Spain solar prices crashed from €200K to €50K per MW1:10 - Why the Spain BESS market is misunderstood2:35 - Spain's 30GW battery storage pipeline explained3:25 - Inside nTeaser: Spain's renewable energy M&A platform5:00 - Is the 3.5GW Spain battery forecast for 2030 too low?7:50 - Spain BESS bottlenecks: bank financing and labour10:00 - Who is buying Spanish battery projects in 202612:50 - Spain vs Italy BESS: the MACSE auction setback15:00 - Data centres and behind-the-meter co-location in Spain18:00 - When Spain battery projects become bankable19:30 - Spain capacity market timing and revenue impact20:30 - BESS arbitrage cannibalisation and revenue stacking21:45 - Poland, Romania, and BESS expansion across Europe23:30 - How nTeaser is changing European renewables M&ATransmission is a Modo Energy podcast hosted by Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.

Chris Stark is leading the UK's Clean Power 2030 mission. As Head of Mission Control at DESNZ, no one sees the constraint costs, grid bottlenecks and reform of National Pricing trade-offs more clearly. The UK is building a clean power system at a pace not seen since the 1960s, connecting record volumes of wind and solar while transmission, storage and gas all reshape around them. Constraint costs have hit £1.7 billion, gas is being squeezed off the system, and the government has just rewritten the rules of the wholesale market.Chris joins Ed Porter to break down what Mission Control is actually delivering, where flexibility and storage fit into the 2030 plan, and what Reformed National Pricing means for investors, generators and consumers.They cover:Why building UK transmission lines takes 8-10 years — and why bringing two projects forward by a year is worth £4bn to consumers.Why the UK chose to build the grid and the generation simultaneously, and the risks that creates.Why the strategic spatial energy plan is the biggest energy decision coming in the next 12 months and how it sets up a "build it once" network for the future.The reform of National Pricing decision, what the wholesale CfD means in practice and how electricity is being de-linked from gas.Why flexibility is the "forgotten third child" of the energy transition and how dunkelflaute, long-duration storage and household batteries fit into the 2030s system.Chris's contrarian take on carbon pricing - why he thinks the Treasury's decision to remove the Carbon Price Support from gas signals carbon pricing is "coming down the list of things that matters.”Want to model how Clean Power 2030, REMA and the wholesale CFD reshape GB power prices? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, is built for exactly these questions. Free sign up: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=chris_stark&utm_content=ko_signup────────────────────────────⏱ CHAPTERS00:00 - Introduction01:09 - What everyone gets wrong about Mission Control03:00 - Constraint costs as a UK grid health metric04:30 - Why the £7 billion constraint cost forecast may not land09:18 - The biggest UK transmission build since the 1960s10:36 - Sea Link, Norwich to Tilbury and the £4 billion question15:29 - Building a UK grid ready to double electricity demand by 205017:59 - From centralised transmission to flexible, dynamic networks21:16 - Reform of National Pricing: why the UK said no to zonal28:48 - Wholesale CfDs and decoupling UK power from gas prices37:13 - Flexibility, batteries and the forgotten third pillar42:16 - Markets versus state intervention in UK energy47:28 - Long duration energy storage and the battery technology race49:35 - Managing the UK gas fleet down to 5% by 203053:21 - Chris's contrarian view: the end of carbon pricing?55:42 - Closing thoughtsYou can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday. Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Ed Porter - Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.

Chris Stark is Head of UK’s Mission for Clean Power, As Head of Mission Control at DESNZ, no one sees the constraint costs, grid bottlenecks and reform of National Pricing trade-offs more clearly. The UK is building a clean power system at a pace not seen since the 1960s, connecting record volumes of wind and solar while transmission, storage and gas all reshape around them. Constraint costs have hit £1.7 billion, gas is being squeezed off the system, and the government has just rewritten the rules of the wholesale market.Chris joins Ed Porter to break down what Mission Control is actually delivering, where flexibility and storage fit into the 2030 plan, and what Reformed National Pricing means for investors, generators and consumers.They cover:Why building UK transmission lines takes 8-10 years — and why bringing two projects forward by a year is worth £4bn to consumers.Why the UK chose to build the grid and the generation simultaneously, and the risks that creates.Why the strategic spatial energy plan is the biggest energy decision coming in the next 12 months and how it sets up a "build it once" network for the future.The reform of National Pricing decision, what the wholesale CfD means in practice and how electricity is being de-linked from gas.Why flexibility is the "forgotten third child" of the energy transition and how dunkelflaute, long-duration storage and household batteries fit into the 2030s system.Chris's contrarian take on carbon pricing - why he thinks the Treasury's decision to remove the Carbon Price Support from gas signals carbon pricing is "coming down the list of things that matters.”Want to model how Clean Power 2030, REMA and the wholesale CFD reshape GB power prices? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, is built for exactly these questions. Free sign up: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=chris_stark&utm_content=ko_signup────────────────────────────⏱ CHAPTERS00:00 - Introduction01:09 - What everyone gets wrong about Mission Control03:00 - Constraint costs as a UK grid health metric04:30 - Why the £7 billion constraint cost forecast may not land09:18 - The biggest UK transmission build since the 1960s10:36 - Sea Link, Norwich to Tilbury and the £4 billion question15:29 - Building a UK grid ready to double electricity demand by 205017:59 - From centralised transmission to flexible, dynamic networks21:16 - Reform of National Pricing: why the UK said no to zonal28:48 - Wholesale CfDs and decoupling UK power from gas prices37:13 - Flexibility, batteries and the forgotten third pillar42:16 - Markets versus state intervention in UK energy47:28 - Long duration energy storage and the battery technology race49:35 - Managing the UK gas fleet down to 5% by 203053:21 - Chris's contrarian view: the end of carbon pricing?55:42 - Closing thoughtsYou can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday. Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Ed Porter - Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.

Germany sits at the centre of Europe's energy transition: over 800 distribution networks, deep intraday markets, and a flexibility gap roughly 40 times its battery fleet. But the real question isn't whether the market is big - it's whether it saturates as battery capacity grows, or scales for years yet.Philipp Man is co-founder and CEO of Terralayr. He joins Ed Porter to unpack the operational reality of building Germany battery storage at scale, the regulatory tension around grid fees, and the contrarian view that Germany's flexibility market is structurally larger than most forecasts suggest.They cover:- Why operating Germany battery storage is harder than capital alone can solve.- Why Germany's TSOs are positive on BESS, why DSOs are nervous and what regulators need to fix.- What the Bundesnetzagentur grid-fee review means for the BESS exemption running to August 2029.- How splitting merchant capacity across multiple optimisers outperforms single-optimiser tolls.- Why flexibility revenues are convex, dominated by tail events, and structurally larger than forecasts predict.Want to track Germany's battery storage pipeline, grid-fee changes, or flexibility market data? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, is built for exactly these questions. Free sign up: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast_apps&utm_campaign=philipp_man&utm_content=ko_signupTranscript available here: ⏱ CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction01:01 What everyone gets wrong about Germany battery storage04:50 Inside Terralayr's 8 GW pipeline07:00 German grid fees and the 2029 BESS exemption11:00 Why DSOs are nervous about battery storage14:30 Nodal pricing, FCAs and the one-price-zone problem18:30 How layer's virtual battery auction works24:30 Will Germany's BESS market saturate35:30 Markets outside Germany — UK, Spain, Nordics37:00 Advice for new entrants and the coming consolidation40:30 Contrarian view: flexibility revenues are convex`You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday. Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Ed Porter - Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.Music licensed via Artlist.

Germany sits at the centre of Europe's energy transition: over 800 distribution networks, deep intraday markets, and a flexibility gap roughly 40 times its battery fleet. But the real question isn't whether the market is big - it's whether it saturates as battery capacity grows, or scales for years yet.Philipp Man is co-founder and CEO of Terralayr. He joins Ed Porter to unpack the operational reality of building Germany battery storage at scale, the regulatory tension around grid fees, and the contrarian view that Germany's flexibility market is structurally larger than most forecasts suggest.They cover:- Why operating Germany battery storage is harder than capital alone can solve.- Why Germany's TSOs are positive on BESS, why DSOs are nervous and what regulators need to fix.- What the Bundesnetzagentur grid-fee review means for the BESS exemption running to August 2029.- How splitting merchant capacity across multiple optimisers outperforms single-optimiser tolls.- Why flexibility revenues are convex, dominated by tail events, and structurally larger than forecasts predict.Want to track Germany's battery storage pipeline, grid-fee changes, or flexibility market data? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, is built for exactly these questions. Free sign up: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast_apps&utm_campaign=philipp_man&utm_content=ko_signupTranscript available here: ⏱ CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction01:01 What everyone gets wrong about Germany battery storage04:50 Inside Terralayr's 8 GW pipeline07:00 German grid fees and the 2029 BESS exemption11:00 Why DSOs are nervous about battery storage14:30 Nodal pricing, FCAs and the one-price-zone problem18:30 How layer's virtual battery auction works24:30 Will Germany's BESS market saturate35:30 Markets outside Germany — UK, Spain, Nordics37:00 Advice for new entrants and the coming consolidation40:30 Contrarian view: flexibility revenues are convex`You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday. Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Ed Porter - Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.Music licensed via Artlist.

Developing battery storage in emerging markets isn't a technology problem - it's a regulatory, offtake, and capital problem. The frameworks, offtake structures, and capital mandates weren't built for storage and that gap is exactly where the risk sits.Hassen Bali, co-founder and director at Ion Ventures, joins Ed Porter to discuss what it actually takes to develop battery storage projects across markets at very different stages of maturity, from the UK to Southeast Asia.They cover:- Why battery storage development demands a different approach to solar or wind and why you have to decide your commercial endpoint before you break ground, not after.- How project conversion rates in the UK BESS market have dropped from 30–40% in the early days to roughly 10–15% today, and how that affects pipeline management and investor communications.- Why early-stage BESS markets like Malaysia and the Philippines are still reliant on bilateral offtake and what that means for project bankability.- Why FCA-regulated investors face hard legal barriers to project finance in sub-investment-grade countries and what that means for who can actually back early-stage BESS projects.- Hassen's contrarian view: that reform of merit order and legacy thermal contracts is the most direct lever for accelerating energy transition globally even if it means unwinding agreements that investors consider bulletproof.Want to model BESS revenue across different market structures? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, is built for exactly these questions. Free sign up here.Transcript available here: Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:53 What People Get Wrong About Developing Battery Storage Projects2:41 BESS Project Development Pipeline: How to Manage Investors and Conversion Rates5:58 Why Ion Ventures Expanded Into Southeast Asia7:34 BESS Market Readiness in Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei8:32 Replacing Coal and Diesel: What Southeast Asian Grids Look Like Today11:35 BESS Project Success Rates in Emerging Markets vs the UK12:39 Why Bilateral Offtake Models Dominate Early-Stage BESS Markets15:17 Why Long-Term Contracts Can Actually Help Battery Storage Bankability16:05 Why Country Risk and OECD Classification Block Capital From Emerging BESS Markets21:02 Can Emerging Markets Leapfrog to Grid 2.0? The Telco Analogy Explained22:59 How to Build a Battery Storage Roadmap for a Nascent Grid: Lessons from Bangladesh30:06 How to Avoid Grid Congestion When Scaling Renewables in Emerging Markets32:17 Contrarian View: Should Merit Order Reform Unwind Legacy Thermal Contracts?You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday. Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Ed Porter - Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.