Fuelling the transition

For the season finale of Fuelling the transition we are joined by Stephen Woodhouse, Director at AFRY Management Consulting. With over twenty years of experience in the energy business, Stephen specialises in changing energy markets, market design and the strategic response of commercial players.

AFRY recently brought together market participants from a range of industry players to look at the proposed market design changes occurring in Great Britain. Initially looking at different aspects of market design and how a move to a centralised locational market could potentially happen, the scope was expanded after the REMA consultation. No longer looking at the formation of prices in the spot market and the extent to which we co-optimise with location systems and ancillary services, the project’s scope broadened. A range of issues from the REMA consultation were explored, including how energy could be traded separately from green energy, the possibility of split markets for these services, and the form of support available for capacity and renewable generation.

Listen to the latest episode as Stephen explores the key messages from the REMA consultation, his view on marginal pricing in electricity markets, and the potential for more flexible demand on the system.

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How do we decarbonise industrial heat? Could thermal batteries be part of a potential solution?

In this episode of Fuelling the transition, Matt Brown and Alex Blanckley, Principal at AFRY Management Consulting, are joined by Tamsin Lishman, Chief Revenue Officer at EnergyNest. Founded in 2011, EnergyNest have developed an innovative thermal battery technology capable of providing 24/7 green, reliable and cost-effective steam to industry.

Exploring topics surrounding thermal batteries and decarbonisation, they discuss whether decarbonising heat is as difficult as commonly thought, the future of decarbonisation in the industrial sector, and the impact of the ongoing gas crisis on the industrial sector.

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In this episode of Fuelling the transition, we are joined by Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. Director of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, Nick’s role entails looking into energy use, energy demand and energy efficiency. He is also an acting Co-Director of the University of Oxford's new Zero Institute, which aims to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon energy system.

In addition to Nick, Matt is joined by Bettina Wittneben, Sustainability Lead UK, at AFRY Management Consulting to discuss a range of topics concerning energy demand, including:

-) The drivers and policies that are driving energy demand in the UK

-) The approaches to lowering energy demand for heating and cooling, and whether heat pumps and hydrogen could provide potential solutions

-) The different approaches to handling increased energy and commodity prices

-) How Nick thinks the government should help with energy bills in the UK's cost of living crisis

-) The potential of new solutions to respond to increased energy demand

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In this episode we are joined by Eva Blixt, Senior Advisor and Research Manager at Jernkontoret, the Swedish Steel Industry Association. Jernkontoret safeguards the steel industry's interests, working for the best possible preconditions for operations in Sweden.

Traditionally, the steel industry’s image has not been well perceived, being seen as old-fashioned, male-dominated, and negatively impacting the environment, which led to Jernkontoret working with stakeholders to develop their “steel shapes a better future” vision. The vision has three key undertakings to change this perception: leading technical development, nurturing creative individuals, and creating environmental benefits.

Eva joins us along with John Williams, Head of Hydrogen Expertise Cluster and Bettina Wittneben, Sustainability Lead UK at AFRY Management Consulting, to discuss where the steel industry is heading through innovations such as fossil-free steel, its associated emissions, and how it has changed in recent years.

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In this episode, Lucy Field, an expert in European and global gas markets at AFRY Management Consulting, joins us to discuss the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the European gas supply. This episode follows two recent webinars conducted in February and March covering the gas crisis and how it has developed since the invasion of Ukraine. These webinars are available here on our website: https://afry.com/en/webinars/energy-management-consulting.

Will we be able to cope without Russian gas, and how feasible is the EU’s plan to reduce Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of the year? Lucy and Matt provide their thoughts on what will happen next.

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In this episode, Tony Green, Hydrogen Director at National Grid, and John Williams, Head of Hydrogen Expertise Cluster at AFRY Management Consulting, join us to discuss the challenges in implementing hydrogen. Tony is involved in two exciting hydrogen projects: FutureGrid and Project Union. FutureGrid involves building a facility to create a representative whole-network to trial hydrogen. Project Union will develop a UK hydrogen ‘backbone’, joining together clusters around the country, potentially creating a 2000km hydrogen network.

In addition to discussing these projects, this episode will explore the following issues:

-) Managing the transition and challenges in repurposing natural gas pipelines to hydrogen

-) The potential for blending and de-blending hydrogen

-) The impact of hydrogen on National Grid’s regulatory approach

-) How to take the first steps towards a hydrogen wholesale market

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ITM Power is a leading electrolyser manufacturer and is a globally recognised expert in hydrogen technologies. 

In this episode, Graham Cooley, Chief Executive Officer at ITM Power, and John Williams, Head of Hydrogen Expertise Cluster at AFRY Management Consulting, join us to discuss ITM’s recent announcements. This includes raising £250 million to scale up its electrolyser manufacturing capacity to 5GW per annum by 2024, and forming a partnership with Linde to halve electrolyser manufacturing costs within five years. The episode also explores the UK hydrogen strategy, how blue hydrogen compares with green hydrogen, the role of electrolysers in hydrogen production, and providing flexibility to power grids.

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In order to achieve the EU’s target of 55% carbon reduction by 2030, hydrogen will have to make a key contribution to the energy mix. With many applications in industrial heat, mobility, power and chemical refineries, hydrogen can be used to decarbonise where electrification is not possible.

Equinor is a broad energy company with 21,000 employees developing oil, gas, wind and solar energy in more than 30 countries worldwide. Equinor have been at the forefront of promoting hydrogen projects in Europe and developing low-carbon hydrogen solutions.

In this episode Johan Leuraers, Chief Consultant - Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Equinor, and John Williams, Head of Hydrogen Expertise Cluster at AFRY Management Consulting, join us to discuss the main barriers to the uptake of hydrogen and the next steps to kick-start the hydrogen economy.

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Energy is already a very significant cost for many industrial companies and energy markets are only becoming ever more complex. Therefore it is becoming increasingly important for industrial companies to develop robust energy strategies to navigate the wide variety of available options.

Mondi is a global packaging and paper company which has operations in over 30 countries around the world and a high energy consumption. Mondi’s vision is to make packaging sustainable by design, so when it came to devising an energy strategy for the company, sustainability was the key priority.

In this episode René Stadler, Group Energy Manager at Mondi, and Benedikt Unger, Principal at AFRY Management Consulting, join us to explain how to devise an energy strategy which maximises a company’s strengths and values.

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European energy markets are currently experiencing a level of disruption arguably unparalleled in any industry. With the growth of renewables, batteries, electrolysers and electrification, there is massive change already taking place and going out to 2030 and beyond.

Investors need to make decisions with a clear knowledge of the range of uncertainty that therefore exists. James Cox leads the Market Analysis Service Line at AFRY Management Consulting and joins us in this episode to predict the future of electricity markets in Europe, even giving us a hint of where he would put his own money…!

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Decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation are driving a profound change in Great Britain’s electricity resource mix. The market needs to provide clear signals about the most efficient way to operate and develop the system, yet the shifts in the resource mix will change the dynamics of how signals are formed and may highlight weaknesses in the current market design.

AFRY Management Consulting have been working with the Energy Systems Catapult on their Rethinking Electricity Markets initiative, which is developing proposals for reforming electricity markets so that they best enable innovative, efficient, whole energy system decarbonisation.

In this episode George Day and Sarah Keay-Bright, from the Energy Systems Catapult, and Gareth Davies, Director at AFRY Management Consulting, join us to discuss a potential framework for electricity market design.

Read the full report: https://afry.com/en/newsroom/news/rethinking-electricity-market-design-time-change-in-changing-times

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Developments in digitalisation give companies endless opportunities to improve their existing operations and develop new business models. Often organisations find it easy to think of many ways to use this technology, but much more challenging to keep track of all the activity and share findings across the organisation.

Energie Steiermark is a large energy company in Austria that sees digitalisation as being crucial to its future success. In the last 12 months it has launched over 50 digitalisation projects, over half of which have already reached operation.

In this episode Martin Graf, CFO of Energie Steiermark, and Wolfgang Pospischil, Director at AFRY Management Consulting, share more about the methodology that was used to enable Energie Steiermark’s digital transformation.

Find out more about the AFRY Digital Use Case Approach: https://afry.com/en/service/afry-digital-use-case-approach

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Northern Ireland is currently developing a new energy strategy which is expected to address the policy and governance vacuum of recent years and put the country firmly on track to increase its significant contribution to the decarbonisation transition.

Last week AFRY Management Consulting and RenewableNI released a report which considered various options for a new renewables support mechanism that may be appropriate for Northern Ireland in order to reach its potential 2030 targets.

In this episode Steven Agnew, Head of RenewableNI, and Andy Kelly, Senior Principal at AFRY Management Consulting, join us to talk about how the power of renewables can be further utilised to deliver Northern Ireland’s decarbonisation targets in 2030 and beyond.

Read the full report: https://afry.com/en/insight/power-renewables-northern-ireland

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