Transmission

Ed Porter, Modo Energy

Transmission is the podcast for energy professionals navigating the global shift to a low-carbon power system. Hosted by Ed Porter, Transmission goes deep on battery storage markets, power market dynamics, and the commercial forces shaping the energy transition - with the people at the centre of it. Every week, we sit down with the CEOs, heads of trading desks, government advisors, policy architects, and leading practitioners driving change across the industry. These are practitioner conversations - focused on how markets actually work, where the real opportunities and risks lie, and what the data is telling us. We cover clean energy investing, capacity markets, balancing mechanism participation, and the evolving regulatory environment that shapes returns across geographies. Our coverage spans Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and the broader European energy transition, with regular episodes dedicated to the specific dynamics of each market. Transmission tracks the inflection points that matter: when markets shift, where capital is flowing, and what experienced operators are doing next. We also cover power markets more broadly - interconnectors, flexibility markets, grid infrastructure, and the trading strategies that sophisticated players use to extract value in increasingly complex systems. Who listens: Transmission is built for people who work in energy - analysts, investors, developers, traders, asset managers, and policy professionals at every stage of their careers. If you're entering the industry or building your understanding of how battery storage and power markets actually work, Transmission is one of the fastest ways to get up to speed - directly from the people shaping them. About Modo Energy: Transmission is produced by Modo Energy, a B2B SaaS platform that helps renewable energy companies, funds, utilities, and banks manage and value their energy assets. Specializing in batteries and provides data, analytics, and forecasting to help customers understand the financial performance of their energy assets. The Modo Energy Terminal is the one-stop shop for teams trying to understand the commercial case for grid-scale battery energy storage - bringing together trusted indices, customizable benchmarks, independent revenue forecasts, in-depth written analysis, and much more. Guided by the principles of transparency and usability, Modo Energy’s Terminal provides owners, operators, developers and financiers with a complete view of the landscape for storage - past, present, and future - so that users can make informed, bankable decisions about their assets. Hundreds of organizations rely on Modo’s tools and insights to navigate market trends, optimize investment strategies, and stay ahead of industry shifts. As the storage space continues to evolve, Modo is leading the way - helping businesses unlock the full value of their assets and make smarter decisions in a net-zero future. Follow Transmission to get new episodes every Tuesday. If you find the show valuable, leaving a rating takes 30 seconds and makes a real difference in helping other energy professionals find us.

  1. 4h ago ·  Video

    There’s No Such Thing as a Global Battery Price - Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

    Battery factories can now produce roughly twice the storage cells the world installs each year, yet cell prices rose in 2026. Lithium, tariffs and sourcing rules, not manufacturing costs, now decide what a battery costs and where it can be sold. Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, returns to Transmission to explain what is really moving the global battery market, from Chinese factory lines to US tariff schedules. They cover: Why a storage cell costs around $50/kWh in China, while US prices are ticking up, and why there's no longer one global battery price.What China's anti-involution campaign means for an industry with 6 to 6.5 TWh of cell capacity running at around 50% utilisation.Why over 1 GWh of sodium-ion storage projects were cancelled this year, and why new chemistries must beat where lithium-ion will be in five years, not where it is today.How Bulgaria installed over 5 GWh of battery storage this year and overtook Germany, as average project sizes doubled to more than 200 MWh.Can the US become a battery manufacturing hub? Its 2030 storage cell pipeline has grown from 70 GWh to over 300 GWh, and data centres could drive around 30% of US storage demand by 2030.Want to see what batteries are earning across GB and Europe? Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI energy analyst: https://modoenergy.com/product/ko?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=iola_hughes&utm_content=ko_signup 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 Introduction 01:19 Why there's no single global battery price 03:03 Have battery prices hit the floor? 04:06 Lithium prices, export rebates and China's anti-involution campaign 06:01 China's battery overcapacity explained 09:41 Battery oversupply vs storage demand: the gap that doesn't add up 11:18 How much do cell prices matter for battery project costs? 12:09 Why China's battery storage market slowed this year 13:29 Has sodium-ion earned a place in grid storage? 15:23 What sodium-ion needs to win: lithium prices and use cases 17:36 Sodium-ion's coconut shell supply chain problem 18:26 Sodium-ion cycle life: brochure specs vs real-world data 20:13 Eastern Europe and Bulgaria: the new battery storage hotspot 22:36 US battery storage: tariffs, tax credits and policy noise 24:37 Is the US becoming a battery manufacturing hub? 27:56 How many batteries do data centres need? 31:00 EVs vs stationary storage: the battery demand split 33:30 Drones and defence: a new battery demand segment 35:49 Why are new battery factories still being built? 38:14 Why the top cell maker isn't the top system supplier 40:15 Contrarian view: why LFP and NCM keep winning

    There’s No Such Thing as a Global Battery Price - Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
  2. 4h ago

    There’s No Such Thing as a Global Battery Price - Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

    Battery factories can now produce roughly twice the storage cells the world installs each year, yet cell prices rose in 2026. Lithium, tariffs and sourcing rules, not manufacturing costs, now decide what a battery costs and where it can be sold. Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, returns to Transmission to explain what is really moving the global battery market, from Chinese factory lines to US tariff schedules. They cover: Why a storage cell costs around $50/kWh in China, while US prices are ticking up, and why there's no longer one global battery price.What China's anti-involution campaign means for an industry with 6 to 6.5 TWh of cell capacity running at around 50% utilisation.Why over 1 GWh of sodium-ion storage projects were cancelled this year, and why new chemistries must beat where lithium-ion will be in five years, not where it is today.How Bulgaria installed over 5 GWh of battery storage this year and overtook Germany, as average project sizes doubled to more than 200 MWh.Can the US become a battery manufacturing hub? Its 2030 storage cell pipeline has grown from 70 GWh to over 300 GWh, and data centres could drive around 30% of US storage demand by 2030.Want to see what batteries are earning across GB and Europe? Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI energy analyst: https://modoenergy.com/product/ko?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=iola_hughes&utm_content=ko_signup 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 Introduction 01:19 Why there's no single global battery price 03:03 Have battery prices hit the floor? 04:06 Lithium prices, export rebates and China's anti-involution campaign 06:01 China's battery overcapacity explained 09:41 Battery oversupply vs storage demand: the gap that doesn't add up 11:18 How much do cell prices matter for battery project costs? 12:09 Why China's battery storage market slowed this year 13:29 Has sodium-ion earned a place in grid storage? 15:23 What sodium-ion needs to win: lithium prices and use cases 17:36 Sodium-ion's coconut shell supply chain problem 18:26 Sodium-ion cycle life: brochure specs vs real-world data 20:13 Eastern Europe and Bulgaria: the new battery storage hotspot 22:36 US battery storage: tariffs, tax credits and policy noise 24:37 Is the US becoming a battery manufacturing hub? 27:56 How many batteries do data centres need? 31:00 EVs vs stationary storage: the battery demand split 33:30 Drones and defence: a new battery demand segment 35:49 Why are new battery factories still being built? 38:14 Why the top cell maker isn't the top system supplier 40:15 Contrarian view: why LFP and NCM keep winning

  3. Nov 3

    Germany’s Battery Deadline Comes Before the Grid Rules Do - Kyon Energy

    Germany’s battery storage pipeline looks like a “tsunami” on paper, but grid connection requests say little about how many projects actually get built. The ones that do face a hard deadline: reach final investment decision this year to keep the grid fee exemption, while the rules that replace it are still being finalised. Ed Porter is joined by Marie-Sophie Braun, Head of Markets and Regulatory Affairs at Kyon Energy, a German battery storage developer that now operates its own assets as an independent flexibility provider, to unpack how investment decisions get made when the rules are still moving. They cover: - Why the flood of grid connection requests says little about how much BESS Germany will build, and why the storage industry has no incentive to overbuild. - How Kyon is approaching final investment decisions to keep the grid fee exemption for assets live before August 2029, why seven months is tight for an infrastructure investment, and why Marie still calls the new grid fee regime a fair compromise. - What separates a flexible connection agreement a bank will finance from one that stalls projects, and why uncompensated curtailment needs a clear cap. - Why Kyon splits comparable assets across different route-to-market providers, and what it wants to see from optimisers beyond the pitch deck. - Why Germany pushes co-located storage and renewables while applying different grid rules to each, and what a split into price zones would mean for flexibility. Want to see how German batteries are performing? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, can answer questions on German BESS revenues, grid fees and the build-out. 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. ### Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:11 What people get wrong about German battery storage 03:31 Why Kyon went from developer to operator 07:42 Should developers optimise in-house? 08:57 The FID deadline and AgNes grid fee reform 12:17 Dynamic and locational grid fees 14:20 Flexible connection agreements and financing 17:03 Benchmarking route-to-market providers 19:57 TSO vs DSO: who benefits from batteries? 23:52 Should Germany split into price zones? 27:28 Contrarian view: different rules for co-located assets

  4. Nov 3 ·  Video

    Germany’s Battery Deadline Comes Before the Grid Rules Do - Kyon Energy

    Germany’s battery storage pipeline looks like a “tsunami” on paper, but grid connection requests say little about how many projects actually get built. The ones that do face a hard deadline: reach final investment decision this year to keep the grid fee exemption, while the rules that replace it are still being finalised. Ed Porter is joined by Marie-Sophie Braun, Head of Markets and Regulatory Affairs at Kyon Energy, a German battery storage developer that now operates its own assets as an independent flexibility provider, to unpack how investment decisions get made when the rules are still moving. They cover: - Why the flood of grid connection requests says little about how much BESS Germany will build, and why the storage industry has no incentive to overbuild. - How Kyon is approaching final investment decisions to keep the grid fee exemption for assets live before August 2029, why seven months is tight for an infrastructure investment, and why Marie still calls the new grid fee regime a fair compromise. - What separates a flexible connection agreement a bank will finance from one that stalls projects, and why uncompensated curtailment needs a clear cap. - Why Kyon splits comparable assets across different route-to-market providers, and what it wants to see from optimisers beyond the pitch deck. - Why Germany pushes co-located storage and renewables while applying different grid rules to each, and what a split into price zones would mean for flexibility. Want to see how German batteries are performing? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, can answer questions on German BESS revenues, grid fees and the build-out. 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. ### Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:11 What people get wrong about German battery storage 03:31 Why Kyon went from developer to operator 07:42 Should developers optimise in-house? 08:57 The FID deadline and AgNes grid fee reform 12:17 Dynamic and locational grid fees 14:20 Flexible connection agreements and financing 17:03 Benchmarking route-to-market providers 19:57 TSO vs DSO: who benefits from batteries? 23:52 Should Germany split into price zones? 27:28 Contrarian view: different rules for co-located assets

    Germany’s Battery Deadline Comes Before the Grid Rules Do - Kyon Energy
  5. Oct 27

    Inside Great Britain’s First Battery Revenue Swap - SSE & Statkraft

    What if a battery storage project could lock in its revenue before it's earned it? SSE and Statkraft have done just that with a battery revenue swap: SSE gave up the ups and downs of battery income for a fixed price, Statkraft took them on, and both energy companies came out with less risk. On this episode of Transmission, Ed Porter is joined by Josh Brown, Origination Team Manager at SSE, and Cian O'Duffy, Energy Markets Quantitative Analyst at Statkraft, two people behind the deal, to explain how energy trading deals like this work and who could do one next. They cover: - How a battery revenue swap is set up, and why it needs far less paperwork than a wind farm PPA. - Whether a swap changes how you run your battery, and what basis risk means for owners. - How wind farms, solar farms and energy suppliers could use battery revenues to manage risk. - Why big businesses might buy a virtual battery instead of building their own. - What's next for battery storage deals, plus two contrarian views on CfDs and battery revenues. Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, about battery revenues, power prices, wind, solar and data centres: Try for free Transcript available here 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. Chapters: 00:00 What is a battery revenue swap? 01:11 How energy trading deals get set up 03:07 Why SSE sold its battery revenue risk 05:11 Why Statkraft wanted more battery risk 06:27 How big the SSE and Statkraft deal is 07:40 How swap contracts work (ISDA explained) 10:39 Does a swap change how you run your battery? 12:35 UK-wide vs regional battery indices 13:55 Can wind and solar farms hedge with batteries? 17:26 Battery revenues vs other ways to hedge 20:27 Virtual batteries for big energy users 24:30 What comes after swaps? Options and floors 28:46 How CfDs affect negative electricity prices 31:02 Why battery revenues could be a rocky ride 33:26 Wrap-up

  6. Oct 27 ·  Video

    Inside Great Britain’s First Battery Revenue Swap - SSE & Statkraft

    What if a battery storage project could lock in its revenue before it's earned it? SSE and Statkraft have done just that with a battery revenue swap: SSE gave up the ups and downs of battery income for a fixed price, Statkraft took them on, and both energy companies came out with less risk. On this episode of Transmission, Ed Porter is joined by Josh Brown, Origination Team Manager at SSE, and Cian O'Duffy, Energy Markets Quantitative Analyst at Statkraft, two people behind the deal, to explain how energy trading deals like this work and who could do one next. They cover: - How a battery revenue swap is set up, and why it needs far less paperwork than a wind farm PPA. - Whether a swap changes how you run your battery, and what basis risk means for owners. - How wind farms, solar farms and energy suppliers could use battery revenues to manage risk. - Why big businesses might buy a virtual battery instead of building their own. - What's next for battery storage deals, plus two contrarian views on CfDs and battery revenues. Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, about battery revenues, power prices, wind, solar and data centres: Try for free Transcript available here 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. Chapters: 00:00 What is a battery revenue swap? 01:11 How energy trading deals get set up 03:07 Why SSE sold its battery revenue risk 05:11 Why Statkraft wanted more battery risk 06:27 How big the SSE and Statkraft deal is 07:40 How swap contracts work (ISDA explained) 10:39 Does a swap change how you run your battery? 12:35 UK-wide vs regional battery indices 13:55 Can wind and solar farms hedge with batteries? 17:26 Battery revenues vs other ways to hedge 20:27 Virtual batteries for big energy users 24:30 What comes after swaps? Options and floors 28:46 How CfDs affect negative electricity prices 31:02 Why battery revenues could be a rocky ride 33:26 Wrap-up

    Inside Great Britain’s First Battery Revenue Swap - SSE & Statkraft
  7. Oct 20 ·  Video

    Battery Storage in Germany: A Grid Operator’s View - 50Hertz

    Battery storage in Germany has a grid connection problem: far more projects want to connect than the grid can take, so Germany has scrapped first come, first served and moved to a maturity-based allocation scheme that rewards projects that are ready to build. But for 50Hertz and Germany's other transmission system operators, connecting BESS is only half the challenge. Merchant batteries could push grid congestion costs and grid fees up, or bring them down. Wilhelm Kiewitt, Head of Energy Economics at 50Hertz, one of Germany's four transmission system operators, joins Ed Porter to explain how a grid operator sees the battery boom from the inside. They cover: Why Germany scrapped first come, first served for grid connections, and how the new maturity-based scheme scores projects on land, permits and finance instead of speed.How 50Hertz went from a handful of transmission connection requests a year to more than 100, and why even the 14GW of batteries already holding grid reservations may not all get built.Should batteries pay more towards wider grid upgrades? Why Wilhelm says no, and why data centres are a different case.Dynamic grid fees or smaller bidding zones? Where Wilhelm and Ed disagree on the cleanest way to send batteries to where the grid needs them.Could merchant batteries cut Germany's roughly 4 billion euros a year in congestion management costs, or push them up?Building in Germany? Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, what a battery earns there today, how it compares with wind and solar, and where power prices are heading. Try for free. Transcript available here Themen: Batteriespeicher, Netzanschluss, Reifegradverfahren, Netzentgelte, Engpassmanagement, 50Hertz

    Battery Storage in Germany: A Grid Operator’s View - 50Hertz
  8. Oct 20

    Battery Storage in Germany: A Grid Operator’s View - 50Hertz

    Battery storage in Germany has a grid connection problem: far more projects want to connect than the grid can take, so Germany has scrapped first come, first served and moved to a maturity-based allocation scheme that rewards projects that are ready to build. But for 50Hertz and Germany's other transmission system operators, connecting BESS is only half the challenge. Merchant batteries could push grid congestion costs and grid fees up, or bring them down. Wilhelm Kiewitt, Head of Energy Economics at 50Hertz, one of Germany's four transmission system operators, joins Ed Porter to explain how a grid operator sees the battery boom from the inside. They cover: Why Germany scrapped first come, first served for grid connections, and how the new maturity-based scheme scores projects on land, permits and finance instead of speed.How 50Hertz went from a handful of transmission connection requests a year to more than 100, and why even the 14GW of batteries already holding grid reservations may not all get built.Should batteries pay more towards wider grid upgrades? Why Wilhelm says no, and why data centres are a different case.Dynamic grid fees or smaller bidding zones? Where Wilhelm and Ed disagree on the cleanest way to send batteries to where the grid needs them.Could merchant batteries cut Germany's roughly 4 billion euros a year in congestion management costs, or push them up?Building in Germany? Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, what a battery earns there today, how it compares with wind and solar, and where power prices are heading. Try for free. Transcript available here Themen: Batteriespeicher, Netzanschluss, Reifegradverfahren, Netzentgelte, Engpassmanagement, 50Hertz

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

Transmission is the podcast for energy professionals navigating the global shift to a low-carbon power system. Hosted by Ed Porter, Transmission goes deep on battery storage markets, power market dynamics, and the commercial forces shaping the energy transition - with the people at the centre of it. Every week, we sit down with the CEOs, heads of trading desks, government advisors, policy architects, and leading practitioners driving change across the industry. These are practitioner conversations - focused on how markets actually work, where the real opportunities and risks lie, and what the data is telling us. We cover clean energy investing, capacity markets, balancing mechanism participation, and the evolving regulatory environment that shapes returns across geographies. Our coverage spans Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and the broader European energy transition, with regular episodes dedicated to the specific dynamics of each market. Transmission tracks the inflection points that matter: when markets shift, where capital is flowing, and what experienced operators are doing next. We also cover power markets more broadly - interconnectors, flexibility markets, grid infrastructure, and the trading strategies that sophisticated players use to extract value in increasingly complex systems. Who listens: Transmission is built for people who work in energy - analysts, investors, developers, traders, asset managers, and policy professionals at every stage of their careers. If you're entering the industry or building your understanding of how battery storage and power markets actually work, Transmission is one of the fastest ways to get up to speed - directly from the people shaping them. About Modo Energy: Transmission is produced by Modo Energy, a B2B SaaS platform that helps renewable energy companies, funds, utilities, and banks manage and value their energy assets. Specializing in batteries and provides data, analytics, and forecasting to help customers understand the financial performance of their energy assets. The Modo Energy Terminal is the one-stop shop for teams trying to understand the commercial case for grid-scale battery energy storage - bringing together trusted indices, customizable benchmarks, independent revenue forecasts, in-depth written analysis, and much more. Guided by the principles of transparency and usability, Modo Energy’s Terminal provides owners, operators, developers and financiers with a complete view of the landscape for storage - past, present, and future - so that users can make informed, bankable decisions about their assets. Hundreds of organizations rely on Modo’s tools and insights to navigate market trends, optimize investment strategies, and stay ahead of industry shifts. As the storage space continues to evolve, Modo is leading the way - helping businesses unlock the full value of their assets and make smarter decisions in a net-zero future. Follow Transmission to get new episodes every Tuesday. If you find the show valuable, leaving a rating takes 30 seconds and makes a real difference in helping other energy professionals find us.

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