Energy Unplugged by Aurora

This week on Energy Unplugged, Richard Howard, Global Research Director at Aurora Energy Research, is joined by Sara Vaughan, Chair of Elexon. 

For years, the energy transition was largely a race to build renewables. Now, a different challenge is emerging: how do you run a power system increasingly shaped by millions of smaller, flexible assets? 

EVs, heat pumps, batteries and smart meters are creating enormous flexibility across the electricity system. Yet much of that potential remains difficult to see, value and coordinate. Without the right data and market rules, flexibility risks becoming a bottleneck rather than a solution. 

At the heart of the discussion is a bigger question about how Britain's future power system should work. Does the system operator need ever greater visibility and control, or can better price signals allow consumers, suppliers and distributed assets to do more of the work themselves? 

Britain already has much of the technology it needs. The next challenge is building a market capable of making millions of individual assets behave like one flexible system. 

Main topics include: 

Why the energy transition could eventually grind to a halt without more flexibility 

How half-hourly settlement could transform the role of consumers in the power market 

Does the system operator need to see everything, or can markets do more of the work? 

Could unlocking flexibility save billions in future system costs?

This week on Energy Unplugged, Richard Howard, Global Research Director at Aurora Energy Research, is joined by Sara Vaughan, Chair of Elexon. 

For years, the energy transition was largely a race to build renewables. Now, a different challenge is emerging: how do you run a power system increasingly shaped by millions of smaller, flexible assets? 

EVs, heat pumps, batteries and smart meters are creating enormous flexibility across the electricity system. Yet much of that potential remains difficult to see, value and coordinate. Without the right data and market rules, flexibility risks becoming a bottleneck rather than a solution. 

At the heart of the discussion is a bigger question about how Britain's future power system should work. Does the system operator need ever greater visibility and control, or can better price signals allow consumers, suppliers and distributed assets to do more of the work themselves? 

Britain already has much of the technology it needs. The next challenge is building a market capable of making millions of individual assets behave like one flexible system. 

Main topics include: 

Why the energy transition could eventually grind to a halt without more flexibility 

How half-hourly settlement could transform the role of consumers in the power market 

Does the system operator need to see everything, or can markets do more of the work? 

Could unlocking flexibility save billions in future system costs?

This week on Energy Unplugged, Emma Woodward, Principal in Aurora Energy Research’s GB & Ireland Advisory team and GB Flexible Energy Lead, is joined by Peter Kavanagh, CEO of Harmony Energy. 

Britain has built one of Europe’s most mature battery markets, largely without subsidy. But success brings its own complications. 

As batteries scale, the debate is shifting from whether the technology works to whether the market around it does. Merchant revenues remain volatile; projects can spend years waiting for grid and planning approvals, and batteries are still not always fully utilised when they could provide a cheaper alternative for balancing the system. 

At the same time, support for long-duration storage raises a more uncomfortable question: could policy designed to accelerate storage end up distorting a market that has already proved it can compete? 

For Peter, the message is increasingly simple: batteries have demonstrated their value. Now the challenge is removing the barriers that stop them delivering more of it. 

Main topics include: 

Why merchant risk may still offer greater upside than contracted certainty 

How grid queues and planning delays are holding back battery deployment 

Why batteries are still being overlooked in the balancing mechanism 

Could subsidised long-duration storage undermine the existing market? 

What Europe can learn from Britain’s battery experience

This week on Energy Unplugged, Emma Woodward, Principal in Aurora Energy Research’s GB & Ireland Advisory team and GB Flexible Energy Lead, is joined by Peter Kavanagh, CEO of Harmony Energy. 

Britain has built one of Europe’s most mature battery markets, largely without subsidy. But success brings its own complications. 

As batteries scale, the debate is shifting from whether the technology works to whether the market around it does. Merchant revenues remain volatile; projects can spend years waiting for grid and planning approvals, and batteries are still not always fully utilised when they could provide a cheaper alternative for balancing the system. 

At the same time, support for long-duration storage raises a more uncomfortable question: could policy designed to accelerate storage end up distorting a market that has already proved it can compete? 

For Peter, the message is increasingly simple: batteries have demonstrated their value. Now the challenge is removing the barriers that stop them delivering more of it. 

Main topics include: 

Why merchant risk may still offer greater upside than contracted certainty 

How grid queues and planning delays are holding back battery deployment 

Why batteries are still being overlooked in the balancing mechanism 

Could subsidised long-duration storage undermine the existing market? 

What Europe can learn from Britain’s battery experience

This week on Energy Unplugged, Jose Munoz, Market Lead for Spanish-speaking South America at Aurora Energy Research, and Melissa Carreño, Product Manager for Peru and Colombia, are joined by César Butrón, Chairman of the Board of COES, Peru's national system operator. 

For two decades, Peru has benefited from some of the cheapest electricity in Latin America, supported by abundant low-cost gas from Camisea. But the conditions that shaped that success are beginning to change. 

Demand is rising, cheap gas can no longer be taken for granted, and investors are struggling to finance new renewable projects despite strong resources and significant interest in the market. At the same time, policymakers face difficult decisions around gas infrastructure, battery storage, transmission expansion, and system reliability. 

Drawing on decades of experience at the centre of Peru's power sector, César explains why the country is not facing a shortage of electricity, but a potential shortage of affordable electricity, and what that means for Peru's next phase of development. 

Peru's challenge is no longer keeping the lights on. It's deciding what will power them next. 

Main topics include: 

Is Peru heading towards a shortage of cheap energy? 

Why renewable projects are struggling to secure financing 

The future of Camisea gas and Peru's energy security 

What batteries, transmission and market reform will need to deliver