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Analysis
Future of Utilities Summit 2026: the industry's take on flexibilityFuture of Utilities Summit 2026: the industry's take on flexibility
Flexibility dominated this year's Future of Utilities Summit, with broad agreement that the technology has stabilised and none at all on where the economic case lies. Across the interview series, Sean Layerle, David Watson and Kate Mulvaney set out three different viewsaccounts of what stands between flexibility and the mainstream: risk appetite, consumer trust, and automation that removes the question entirely.
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Analysis
Future of Utilities - Expert Voices - Lennart Van Walsum - Global Solar Council
Lennart Van Walsum of the Global Solar Council brings a worldwide view to an industry he calls the "solar coaster," one prone to sharp swings as policy and incentives shift from market to market. He charts the UK's fall from more than 30,000 solar jobs to fewer than 2,000 and its current revival on the back of energy security, arguing that no further renewables build-out is viable without storage alongside.
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Analysis
Future of Utilities - Expert Voices - Sean Layerle
Sean Layerle argues that the technology behind flexibility has stabilised, yet customer adoption, both commercial and residential, remains the sector's real barrier to scale. Speaking with Talking Utilities at Future of Utilities Summit, he explains why the industry's biggest gap right now isn't tech, but hindsight, and why the companies pulling ahead are the ones willing to test, learn, and take the risk.
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Analysis
Future of Utilities - Expert Voices - Jonathan Morris
Jonathan Morris, head of Tower Hamlets' Future Energy and Water Systems team, argues that local authorities must take an active role in delivering net zero, not simply follow central government direction. Using the borough's own Local Area Energy Plan as a blueprint, he sets out how councils are uniquely placed to bring together utility providers, politicians and residents to ensure the energy transition benefits the public it serves.
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Analysis
Future of Utilities Summit - Expert Voices - Kate Mulvany
Kate Mulvany has spent her career at the sharp end of energy change and regulation, and in this conversation we tackle how flexibility is becoming operationally real, how organisation should ride the wave of regulatory change, and what consolidation we can expect to see as the market matures.
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Analysis
Changes cycles are compressing - how does the energy industry keep up?
Three years of Future of Utilities Summit agendas tell a story that goes beyond conference themes. AI has arrived as the sector's defining priority, flexibility has found its commercial footing, and ambition has given way to a focus on delivery.
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Analysis
AI, Flex and the End of Debate: A Future of Utilities Roundup
The Future of Utilities Summit 2025 marked a turning point — AI is no longer a conversation topic, it's an operational imperative. From flexibility markets to customer debt, the sector is done debating and ready to build.
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Expert Voice
Future of Utilities - Expert Voice - Aarth Saraph - United Nations
How the UN are supporting on the energy transition - and bringing innovative energy projects to the developing world
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Expert Voice
Future of Utilities Expert Voice - Simon Banham - UK Department of Business and Trade.
In this interview from the Future of Utilities: Energy Transition Summit, Simon Banham from the UK Department of Business and Trade shares his perspective on the UK's role in delivering the energy transition.
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Analysis
Energy Transition Amsterdam 2026: What Six Conversations Told Us
Six on-camera conversations from Future of Utilities in Amsterdam reveal an industry that has converged on why it is transitioning, but not on what to fix first.
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Expert Voice
If You Wanted to Get There, You Wouldn't Start From Here
Industry experts on the six things they would change if they were building the energy system from scratch.