Welcome back to The Pexapark Podcast!
In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti talks to Genna Boyle, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of EMEA at Gridcog, about how grid connection scarcity is reshaping project design across global energy markets. Gridcog builds simulation software that helps developers, IPPs, and large load clients model co-located and tri-located projects across more than 40 markets, giving Genna a rare cross-market view of what’s working. The conversation compares how Great Britain, Spain, Germany, and Australia are each tackling flexibility and grid utilization differently, and what markets can learn from one another as data center demand adds new pressure on the system.
Key themes from the discussion include:
-
-
-
Why co-location and tri-location have emerged as leading answers to grid connection scarcity
-
How market design accelerates or blocks flexibility, from Great Britain’s deep ancillary and capacity markets to Spain’s emerging capacity market
-
Why Germany’s “green battery” model protects solar subsidies but misses the winter flexibility the grid needs most
-
How collapsing solar capture rates and last year’s blackout are accelerating Spain’s shift toward storage and flexibility
-
Why data center demand is prompting new rules, such as Spain’s proposed requirement that 80% of data center power be hourly time-matched
-
What an ideal regulatory playbook would look like: maximizing use of scarce grid connections while keeping price signals strong enough to justify investment
-
-
In the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He looks at how long-term corporate offtake is reshaping nuclear power, with Pexapark tracking 14 GW of existing nuclear capacity now under new long-term contracts across the US, France, and Finland, more than three-quarters of it signed since January 2025. Every deal in the data set is tied to capex in an existing plant, whether a restart, continued operation, or a life extension, with hyperscalers accounting for roughly two-thirds of contracted capacity since 2025. Luca highlights Finland’s Loviisa deal as the clearest example, where Google’s demand is funding a life extension to 2050 on a plant covering nearly 10% of Finland’s power capacity, tied to a €12 billion data center investment.
Episode breakdown:
-
- 0:00 – Intro
- 01:51 – Interview with Genna Boyle
- 31:51 – Overview of Pexapark Market Intelligence