Redefining Energy

In our series: How AI is revolutionising Energy, Laurent and Gerard dive deep into the intricate corner of Energy Management system for large industrial clusters.  

You would believe that legacy providers such as Siemens, Schneider Electric or Hitachi would provide such solutions. They are not. Indeed, they provide legacy Scada systems which are hardware linked and bottom up. There is no glue to optimise them as a group and deliver access to Energy markets.  

Two young Belgian engineers have decided to address this blind spot and come up with a new generation of software: AI powered EMS. That is what Companion Energy has achieved. We bring in its CEO Thomas Vyncke.  

Most of the European energy conversation still focuses on front-of-the-meter flexibility: batteries, renewables and other assets participating in wholesale and balancing markets. Thomas’ thesis is that an equally important — and much less developed — opportunity sits behind the meter, inside large industrial and commercial companies.  

The problem is complexity. Every enterprise site is different: different tariffs, contracts, generation assets, batteries, EV fleets, boilers, industrial processes, grid constraints and operating requirements. The opportunity therefore isn't simply to buy cheaper electricity or optimise one battery. It is to continuously optimise the entire energy system of the site against its operational and financial reality.  

That is what Vyncke and co-founder Jonas Verstraeten are building with Companion.energy, founded in 2022. The platform provides transparency on energy costs and automates optimisation across complex behind-the-meter environments.  

The company says it currently optimises more than €500m of energy spend and 350+ MW of assets across Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Romania, working with companies including Proximus, TotalEnergies and Port of Antwerp-Bruges. It recently raised a €7.8m seed round to support international expansion.  

And it is just the beginning…  

 
With the energy industry's largest proprietary dataset, world-class experts and decision-grade models, all powered by Synoptic AI, Wood Mackenzie delivers Intelligence Connected across the energy and natural resources landscape.

There is simply too much greenwashing happening. Environmental reporting has become a meaningless bureaucracy feeding a fictional reality through glossy reports that nobody reads anymore.  

But things are changing; the impact of climate change (heatwaves, floods) is hitting back at governments trying to ignore it. Some BigTech, historically in favour of renewable energy are now busy building the biggest gas plants in the world for their datacenters, while pretending still to be on track for their “net zero” commitments.  

They maintain the fiction through carbon accounting tricks, maximisation of loopholes and heavy PR campaigns run by the American Petroleum Institute and McKinsey.  

Fortunately, there are a lot of companies which start to see the direction of travel: a more granular way of accounting for Energy and Emissions. Not by the year, where summer solar can be accounted for winter consumption, but by the month and soon by the hour.   Hourly matching is new, tough, but far from unsurmountable. That is what new companies such as Renewabl are enabling: by cutting though the bureaucracy and Excel Sheets, and helping the forward thinkers to present, report and optimise their energy and emissions profile.  

Laurent and Gerard have the privilege of receiving Carolyn Addy, Head of Commercial at Renewabl, to talk about the new trends, the innovations, and how progressively, we are entering a more transparent and efficient world.  

We talk about immediate non-regret solutions and the impact of AI in the process. We also dive into how hourly PPAs are progressively making their way into the market, and whatever perceived additional work they require, in fact they provide better hedges against volatile energy costs.

Where Are BESS Making Money? Gerard and Laurent had the pleasure of welcoming Ed Porter Director Europe at Modo Energy for an insightful discussion on battery profitability and the evolving economics of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).  

Modo Energy is a fast-growing data analytics and market intelligence platform helping energy professionals benchmark asset performance, forecast revenues and evaluate investments in renewable energy and grid-scale battery storage.  

Ed outlines three stages in the development of a battery market:Stage 1 – Pre-saturation: Batteries can achieve attractive payback periods, sometimes as short as three years, primarily through ancillary services.
Stage 2 – Wholesale market competition: As ancillary service revenues become more competitive, batteries increasingly rely on wholesale market opportunities, as seen in Australia, Texas and Great Britain.
Stage 3 – Sophisticated grid services: Once wholesale markets become saturated, batteries move towards more advanced and specialised grid services (voltage, inertia...).
  The technology is evolving rapidly, as is the deployment of new battery capacity. This makes future revenues increasingly difficult to predict, particularly because of the cannibalisation effect: as more batteries enter a market, they compete for the same revenue opportunities and can progressively reduce market spreads.  

From Australia to PJM, ERCOT and CAISO, and across Great Britain, Spain and Germany, we explore the fundamentals driving battery profitability in different markets.   With CAPEX around $500,000/MW, a decent return might be in the region of $70,000–80,000/MW. Yet the picture varies dramatically by market. Poland can deliver around $300,000/MW, while ERCOT and Australia's NEM are currently below $30,000/MW.  
These differences highlight why investors need to look beyond headline revenues and consider market structure, competition, saturation, technology and future revenue cannibalisation.  

We also discuss Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) and explore the deeper market and technological levers that can make batteries a profitable long-term investment.   A compelling conversation on where BESS is making money today—and, perhaps more importantly, where the opportunities may lie tomorrow. 
With the energy industry's largest proprietary dataset, world-class experts and decision-grade models, all powered by Synoptic AI, Wood Mackenzie delivers Intelligence Connected across the energy and natural resources landscape.

There is no shortage of discussion about the role of AI in the energy transition. Yet while many talk about the future of intelligent grids, only a handful of industry leaders are delivering solutions at scale.  
One of them is Alberto Méndez Rebollo—an executive, investor, and entrepreneur dedicated to accelerating the energy transition. Throughout his career, Alberto has held senior leadership positions at Siemens Gamesa, Vattenfall, XCharge, and other organizations, overseeing multi-million-euro initiatives across renewable energy, power grids, and electric mobility.  
Today, as Co-Founder and CEO of Plexigrid, he is leading the development of next-generation technology designed to prepare electricity networks for a rapidly changing energy landscape. Plexigrid, a deep-tech company headquartered in Sweden and Spain, develops intelligent software that helps utilities optimize and digitize electricity distribution networks. At the core of its platform is a real-time digital twin of the distribution grid, enabling operators to monitor capacity, detect anomalies, and make better operational decisions.  
The company's AI-powered technology automatically coordinates energy consumption and manages flexible assets such as EV chargers, shifting demand away from peak periods. This allows utilities to alleviate congestion, increase grid resilience, and unlock additional network capacity—without the need for costly and time-consuming infrastructure upgrades.  
The market response has been remarkable. Operating on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, Plexigrid has expanded its commercial pipeline from €8 million to more than €150 million in just four years, consistently winning competitive tenders against some of the industry's most established players.   Its growing client base includes leading utilities and energy innovators, with notable partnerships such as EDP and Piclo focused on advancing real-time grid orchestration. The company has also raised approximately €15 million across multiple funding rounds, providing a strong foundation for continued growth and innovation.  
Beyond the technology, however, this is a story about transformation at warp speed. It is about how critical infrastructure can evolve—not only technically, but culturally—to embrace new technologies and operating models. As electricity networks become increasingly decentralized, digital, and dynamic, organizations like Plexigrid are demonstrating how AI can move from a promising concept to a practical tool that helps utilities adapt, modernize, and thrive in the energy transition.  

“Today’s show is supported by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. The BMW Foundation unites leaders across sectors to develop solutions that foster an innovative economy and a future-proof society. A key focus is "Energy Transition & Climate Change," where the Foundation drives "International collaboration to accelerate the energy transition." With rising energy demands from AI and data centres, new partnerships, effective collaboration, and the exchange of science-based solutions and strategies are essential.”

Recorded at the SolarPower Summit in Brussels this conversation between Laurent Segalen and Jonathan Gifford examines why batteries have become one of the fastest growing and most strategically important technologies shaping the global energy transition. Jonathan Gifford is the co-founder of Climate Copy and a wonderful storyteller.  

Laurent unpacks how rapid battery innovation is transforming electric mobility, renewable energy markets, charging infrastructure, and the future operation of electricity grids.  

It has been only nine years since Hornsdale (Tesla – South Australia) 100MW-130MWh made of EV batteries cracked the code. Six months later in China the Jiangsu Zhenjiang first 100MW LFP battery was installed. In Europe and the US, the first large LFP batteries were installed in 2021-2022. Now, LFP has a 95% market share in BESS around the world. For EVs, it is 55% LFP – 45% NMC (80% in China).  

By the end of 2026, we will reach 500GW globally and great forecasters like Jan Rosenow expect 1,000GW by 2030. We see longer duration and the advent of sodium batteries.  

Laurent outlines why electrification is entering a new phase of acceleration. He highlights how falling battery costs, rapid improvements in electric vehicle technology, and the widening economic gap between electricity and fossil fuels are reshaping expectations across the transport sector. This shift is not limited to passenger cars; it increasingly extends to commercial fleets and heavy-duty trucking, where electric trucks are becoming more competitive thanks to lower operating costs, reduced maintenance needs, and improving charging infrastructure.  

He also discusses the growing importance of stationary battery storage in enabling high-power EV charging, increasing grid flexibility, and supporting higher penetration of renewable energy.  

Finally, he explained why Hydrogen will never work in long haul transportation. Simply too expensive.