Blog - Guest Blogs & Editorials

Re-powering the move to nuclear: Will Small Modular Reactors reshape the evolving energy mix?

  • 3 days ago (2026-11-10)
  • Junior Isles

Re-powering the move to nuclear: Will Small Modular Reactors reshape the evolving energy mix?

Small modular reactors are emerging as a potentially critical part of the future power mix. Only a year ago, these small modular reactors were still framed as a promising but distant technology. But that’s all changed as electricity demand accelerates, grids struggle to expand at the pace required, and affordability and reliability move back to the top of the energy agenda. What started the year as a trend to watch now looks like a technology tipping into commercial reality—driven less by climate ambition, and more by advancements in Industrial AI and the world’s need for more reliable and affordable energy. But the challenge will be not just how to manage the lifecycle of a nuclear power plant from planning through to implementation, but how to deal with its eventual decommissioning.

By Carol Johnston, VP Industries, Energy, Utilities, and Resources at IFS, explains.

Floating wind raises the stakes for offshore energy IP

  • 4 days ago (2026-11-09)
  • Junior Isles

Floating wind could open up substantial new areas for renewable generation, but realising that potential will require advances throughout the supply chain. The companies best placed to benefit will be those that solve the practical challenges of deployment and protect their advances with the right intellectual property strategy.

By Lawrence Paleschi, Senior Associate Patent Attorney, Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

Why speed to power is changing data centre development

  • 18 days ago (2026-10-26)
  • Junior Isles

For data centre developers, the question is not simply whether a site can secure enough power but whether it can deliver the right power, at the right time.

By Cameron Thompson, Head of Power Infrastructure, BCS Consultancy

From pilot to pipeline: what a growing BESS market demands from everyone involved

  • 19 days ago (2026-10-25)
  • Junior Isles

As the number of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects reaches a critical mass, Matthew Ling, business development director at Leep Utilities, explains the realities of delivering these complex solutions in a fast-moving sector.

What rising grid constraints mean for the UK energy sector

  • 22 days ago (2026-10-22)
  • Junior Isles

Grid reform will take time, but the constraint bill will not wait. Developers, asset owners and energy buyers should focus on what can be controlled now.

By James Clark, Business Development Manager at SmartestEnergy

The overlooked energy resource hiding in global landfills

  • 28 days ago (2026-10-16)
  • Junior Isles

Landfill biomethane creates alignment of all three pieces of a complicated puzzle – energy independence, climate commitments and domestic economic growth. Some countries like France, Spain, Canada and the US have deployed landfill biomethane sensibly and strategically using proven technology, but others, including the UK, are lagging.

By Will Llewellyn, UK CEO, Waga Energy

 

 

Grid stability is a challenge, but the UK is ahead of the curve

  • a month ago (2026-10-06)
  • Junior Isles

The UK has made a strong start with its infrastructure strategy to face grid stability challenges. However, it must build on this momentum and increase the speed of delivery of these projects, especially future grid stability programmes. 

By Tony O’Carroll, CEO at Conrad Energy

Back to the energy future: How WESA provides a time machine for energy trials

  • a month ago (2026-10-06)
  • Junior Isles

History is filled with confident predictions that were quickly overtaken by technological development and changing consumer behaviour. Predicting the energy system of the future presents a similar challenge, because technologies, consumer behaviour, market rules and physical infrastructure are all changing at the same time. Here, Claire Rowland, Senior Manager for the Living Lab and Whole Energy Systems Accelerator at Energy Systems Catapult, explains how WESA acts as a time machine for energy trials, allowing network operators to test plausible future conditions before they exist at scale.

Why AR8 is the ultimate test for Clean Power 2030

  • 2 months ago (2026-09-04)
  • Junior Isles

The biggest risk to the UK’s Clean Power 2030 is capacity that secures an allocation but fails to deliver, leaving build-ready projects stranded. The success of the UK’s Allocation Round 8 (AR8) for renewable capacity will therefore not be determined by the number of contracts awarded, but by the speed and scale of turning capacity on paper into projects and ultimately, generation on the grid.

By Angus Widdowson, Head of Generation, SmartestEnergy

The best-governed sector in recent survey keeps losing data anyway

  • 2 months ago (2026-08-18)
  • Junior Isles

Kiteworks' Data Security and Compliance Risk: 2026 Annual Survey Report measured security and AI governance maturity across more than 450 organisations in ten industries. Energy and utilities organisations recorded the second-highest Data Security Maturity Score of any sector. But leading a maturity index and stopping the next data breach are two different achievements.

By Frank Balonis, Field CISO at Kiteworks