Aurora Energy Transition Summit London 2026

Registration & Networking Coffee

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Dan Monzani

Managing Director, UK, Ireland & Africa, Aurora Energy Research

Energy Unplugged Live: "The Unglamorous Truth: What It Actually Costs to Deliver Clean Power at Scale"

CEO Panel - Redefining "Cheap" Power on the Road to Clean Power 2030

• Are we getting the balance between clean, cheap and secure right for domestic and industrial consumers? 

• From subsidy to system design: who pays, who plans, and who takes the risk? 

• Absorbing variability: coordinating networks, storage and electrification at pace 

• Is GB still an attractive place to invest?  Can the energy sector and regulators move fast enough to capitalise on electrification and data centres? 

Miya Paolucci

UK CEO, Engie

Simone Rossi

CEO, EDF Energy

Simon Evans

Deputy & Senior Policy Editor, Carbon Brief

Aurora Keynote 1: Investing in GB power – Where are the Opportunities?

• Many energy infrastructure portfolios are built to perform in one regime and hope the others don’t arrive. However, history shows that violent swings in power prices, volatility and policy have made single-strategy investing a liability in GB power.  

• Not all diversification is created equal. How can different asset types enhance risk adjusted returns?  

• Looking forward, how can you build a portfolio that doesn’t just win in the good times but survives the bad ones too?  

Brian Potskowski

Head of Advisory, UK & Ireland, Aurora Energy Research

Panel Discussion: From Design to Execution - What It Takes to Develop a Winning GB Power Portfolio 

• The UK’s energy transition is entering a new phase, as subsidy-backed certainty becomes scarcer, merchant exposure grows, market design evolves, and technologies compete for capital.  

• Investors and developers face increasingly complex decisions over where to deploy capital and how to build resilient portfolios that can perform across different market regimes.  

• Diversification is straightforward in theory; the harder questions are operational – grid and deliverability constraints, financing, and the practicalities of making assets bankable in 2026.  

• Key themes include portfolio construction, hybrid and co-located assets, merchant risk appetite, capital allocation, and bankability in an increasingly merchant market. 

Pranav Menon

Research Senior Associate, Aurora Energy Research

Lunch & Networking

Aurora Keynote 2: Data Centres and the GB Power System: Demand, Grids and Strategy 

• Data Centre Demand and Its Price Implications: Aurora’s Central capacity forecast for GB data centre growth and how that translates into all-in retail power price outcomes  

• Grid Constraints and Locational Impact: Examining how data centre load affects grid congestion across different network nodes, identifying where new capacity could ease system stress and where it could compound existing constraints.  

• Power Sourcing in a Constrained System: Outlining the strategic options available to data centres navigating grid connection challenges including behind-the-meter generation, on-site battery storage, and PPA structures and setting the scene for a panel discussion on real-world commercial approaches

Malavika Gode

Senior Associate, Aurora Energy Research

Panel Discussion 2:  Megawatts to Markets: Corporate PPAs, Co-location and the Race for Access to Power

• Datacentre demand signals, magnitude, geography & appetite for long term fixed price PPAs vs Merchant exposure.  

• PPA architecture structure, pricing, take or pay, credit requirements in a competitive market.  

• Co-Location strategy onsite generation (wind, solar, CCGT), battery storage & Grid interconnection optimization.  

• Ready Power premium, scarcity value for shovel ready, consented generation near major load clusters.  

• Resilience & Redundancy, multi-source PPAs & Backup Capacity strategies to meet uptime SLAs  

Graham Richmond

Partner, Dentons

Marten Ford

Advisory Project Leader, Aurora Energy Research

Coffee & Networking Break 

Aurora Keynote 3: Floors & Tolls – How Much Upside are Developers Trading for Price Certainty?

The GB BESS market continues to evolve at pace, with shifting market dynamics creating both new opportunities and emerging risks for investors, developers, and asset owners. This session will explore the latest trends shaping the sector, highlighting key developments and considerations for navigating an increasingly complex landscape. Join us for an overview of the factors influencing project value, risk, and future market direction.  

• Evolving revenue opportunities, including tolling and floor structures.  

• Emerging market risks from grid constraints, TNUoS changes, and LDES competition.  

• The impact of external drivers such as weather volatility and commodity price shocks.  

Pooja Vadhva

Senior Associate Advisory, Aurora Energy Research

Panel Discussion - Competing for Alpha: Battery Optimisation, Benchmarks, and What Drives Value

• The emerging optimisation landscape — who is competing (utilities, traders, specialist optimisers, in-house desks), how strategies differ, and why identical assets can deliver materially different revenues. 

• What performance really reflects — disentangling optimiser skill vs. market positioning, risk appetite, hedging overlays, and access to trading desks/liquidity  

• Benchmarks as a battleground — how different metrics (top-of-book, achieved, risk-adjusted, portfolio-level) are used to claim outperformance and where they can mislead  

• Implications for asset owners and financiers — how to assess optimiser capability, compare offers, and avoid anchoring to a single number when making contracting, refinancing, or switching decisions  

Marc Hedin

Head of Research for Western Europe and Africa, Aurora Energy Research

Concluding Remarks & Aurora Insights

Dan Monzani

Managing Director, UK, Ireland & Africa, Aurora Energy Research

Networking Drinks Reception