Abstract: Most projections of energy demand and supply through 2050 point to significant new system challenges as low-carbon generation expands and peak demand rises, driven largely by the electrification of transport and heating. At the same time, the energy landscape is changing rapidly, with far-reaching implications for the global energy industry and its stakeholders.
Some of these changes are already underway. Utility companies are developing commercial platforms that make it easier to trade flexibility with generators and consumers, even at very small scale, reshaping how energy grids are managed. Renewables are also becoming key players in this shift. Harvesting renewable energy drives decentralization, as many consumers become producers themselves, at times exporting electricity back to the grid. To accommodate growing numbers of renewable resources, distribution and transmission networks must be adapted and expanded to avoid congestion and failures. 
Flexibility must be enabled not only on the supply side but also through responsive demand and suitable energy storage solutions, in order to maximize security of supply and quality of service as efficiently as possible. Accelerating the energy transition further requires rethinking electricity markets, particularly redesigning their structure and operation to support higher shares of variable renewables and distributed generation. 
This talk explores these promising areas of the green energy transition, examining the current and future opportunities and challenges they present.