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Energy Storage
Energy Storage Boost from Iran

Disruption to LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz has injected a fresh layer of risk into global energy markets, with potentially important consequences for UK power pricing. While the market currently views the shock as temporary, Longspur argues that even a short-lived disruption could materially widen electricity price spreads in FY26, improving the revenue environment for battery storage and other flexible energy assets. If the disruption proves more persistent, the upside for storage could extend well beyond the current year.



Key Takeaways:




    LNG disruption is lifting UK power prices:
    A reduction in LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up both UK gas and electricity forward prices, creating a more supportive backdrop for flexible generation and storage.


    Gas prices have moved sharply higher:
    Longspur highlights that Summer 2026 UK NBP gas forward prices rose 96% to 134p/therm, while equivalent electricity forwards increased 57% to £102/MWh.


    Storage spreads should improve in FY26:
    Higher gas-driven peaking power prices are expected to widen the spread between low and high electricity prices, directly improving arbitrage conditions for battery storage across durations.


    The upside is asymmetric:
    Longspur notes that low prices are partly floored by feed-in tariff and ROC-related dynamics, while peak prices remain much less constrained. That tilts the price duration curve more positively for storage operators.


    Markets still assume this is temporary:
    So far, oil and gas futures suggest traders see the disruption as short term rather than structural, with the expectation that flows can recover relatively quickly if conflict subsides.


    A prolonged conflict would be more meaningful:
    If disruption persists, the current boost to electricity volatility could evolve into a more structural change, extending benefits for storage assets into FY27 and potentially beyond.


    UK storage is particularly well positioned:
    Because UK power prices remain strongly influenced by gas-fired marginal generation, higher gas prices can have an outsized effect on volatility and storage spreads.


    Longspur’s core message is that geopolitical disruption is not just a macro risk, it may also create a meaningful earnings tailwind for electricity storage. Even if LNG disruption through Hormuz proves temporary, FY26 could see stronger storage economics as elevated gas prices widen UK power spreads. Should the conflict become more prolonged, the benefit for flexible energy assets could become more durable and more material.




Register to access the full Longspur note, including forward curve analysis, UK gas and electricity market implications, storage spread dynamics, and Longspur’s view on which listed energy storage names are best positioned to benefit:https://longspur.worldflowconnect.net/login
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Energy Storage Boost from Iran
Energy Storage Research
Clean Energy in 2026

Clean energy enters 2026 in a more complex environment than many expected. Policy momentum has softened, particularly in the US, but a powerful new driver has taken centre stage: energy security. As geopolitics fragment and electricity demand, especially from data centres, accelerates, the focus is shifting from sustainability targets to ensuring reliable, local, and dispatchable power. This is driving rapid growth in distributed energy, storage, and behind-the-meter solutions.



Key Takeaways:



    Energy security overtakes sustainability:
    Global policy support has weakened, with delays to shipping decarbonisation, limited progress at COP30, and shifting priorities in major economies. However, this is being replaced by a stronger focus on national and corporate energy security.


    Data centres are the catalyst:
    Explosive growth in AI and cloud computing is driving electricity demand, but the key issue in 2026 is not demand, it’s supply. Securing reliable power is becoming a near-existential challenge for operators.


    “Bring your own power” goes mainstream:
    Grid constraints, long connection queues, and rising costs are accelerating adoption of BYOP (microgrid-style solutions). Solar-plus-storage is emerging as the leading configuration, offering flexibility and speed to deployment.


    Distributed energy takes centre stage:
    Distributed energy resources (DERs), including PV, batteries, and virtual power plants, are set to dominate near-term growth. These systems provide local, flexible, and increasingly cost-competitive power.


    Storage is the biggest winner:
    Falling lithium-ion costs and scaling of long-duration technologies (flow batteries, compressed air) position storage as a critical enabler of both renewables and data centre power solutions.


    Solar plus storage hits economic sweet spot:
    Behind-the-meter solar and batteries can now deliver “dispatchable solar” at highly competitive costs, making it one of the most attractive solutions for energy-constrained users.


    Geothermal and biogas gain relevance:
    As demand for firm, low-carbon power grows, geothermal offers reliable baseload-like supply, while biogas provides a flexible, local fuel alternative for microgrids and distributed systems.


    Nuclear remains too slow for this cycle:
    Despite renewed interest and policy backing, nuclear, particularly SMRs, faces long lead times and cost uncertainty, limiting its role in meeting near-term demand growth.


    China’s dominance reshapes the market:
    Falling costs in solar and batteries, driven by Chinese overcapacity, are accelerating adoption globally. This is creating a shift toward “electrostate” dynamics, where energy independence is built on electrification and domestic generation.


    Clean energy in 2026 is less about policy-driven decarbonisation and more about solving a practical problem: how to deliver reliable, scalable power in a constrained system. As grids struggle and demand surges, particularly from data centres, distributed solutions, led by storage and solar, are emerging as the fastest and most effective answer. While policy headwinds remain, the structural drivers of demand are strengthening, and much of this upside still appears underappreciated in clean energy valuations.




Register to access the full Longspur outlook, including policy analysis, technology cost trends, DER economics, data centre power demand forecasts, comparisons across generation technologies, and Longspur’s view on the key investment themes and beneficiaries for 2026: https://longspur.worldflowconnect.net/login
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Clean Energy in 2026
Energy Storage Research
Powerful Thinking: Data Centres Drive Energy Demand

Data centres are becoming one of the most important new sources of electricity demand globally, driven by cloud expansion, AI training, and inference workloads. Longspur argues that while efficiency gains are meaningful, they are unlikely to offset the scale of demand growth, especially as cheaper and more efficient computing tends to unlock even more usage. That is creating a major opportunity across storage, solar, hydrogen, geothermal, and carbon removal, while also opening a new lane for experienced power developers to move into data centre development itself.



Key Takeaways:



    Data centres are a major new demand driver:
    Longspur forecasts strong growth in power demand from data centres through 2030, with global electricity consumption from the sector potentially reaching around 3% of total demand, and materially higher shares in markets such as the US, UK, and Ireland.


    Demand is not true baseload:
    Despite common assumptions, data centre electricity use is often cyclical and variable, with meaningful fluctuations in utilisation and load. That makes flexibility and fast-response power solutions critical.

    Storage stands to benefit first:
    Because data centre loads swing and grids are already under pressure, both short- and long-duration storage look increasingly valuable. Batteries, flow batteries, and compressed air storage could all play a role in smoothing demand and supporting reliability.

    “Bring your own power” is accelerating:
    Grid delays, rising connection costs, and local opposition are pushing operators toward behind-the-meter and microgrid solutions. Solar-plus-storage stands out as one of the most practical and cost-effective options where land is available.

    Renewables plus storage look best positioned:
    Longspur sees PV and battery combinations as especially attractive thanks to low equipment costs, shorter lead times, and competitive economics. Geothermal and hydrogen also have roles, while gas and nuclear face longer lead times or higher costs.

    Clean energy developers have a strategic edge:
    Many of the skills needed to develop data centres, site selection, permitting, grid access, capital structuring, and equipment procurement, overlap heavily with capabilities already held by energy developers.


    Data centre development itself is an opportunity:
    Rather than only supplying power, power developers may be able to create value by developing fully permitted, energy-ready sites for eventual sale to operators, avoiding some of the operational and obsolescence risks of owning the data centres long term.

    AI upside is not yet fully priced into clean energy:
    Despite the surge in attention around AI and data centres, Longspur argues that most clean energy names still do not reflect these demand tailwinds in their valuations, outside of a few exceptions.

    Data centres are rapidly emerging as one of the defining electricity growth stories of the next decade. As grid bottlenecks intensify and operators seek faster, cleaner, and more flexible supply, the beneficiaries are likely to extend well beyond the data centre owners themselves. Storage, solar, geothermal, hydrogen, CDR providers, and even land-rich power developers could all gain from the shift, especially where they can help solve the industry’s central constraint: access to reliable power.



Register to access the detailed Longspur report, including demand forecasts, load profile analysis, BYOP economics, comparisons across gas, fuel cells, solar, geothermal and nuclear, storage implications, and Longspur’s framework for valuing data centre development opportunities: https://longspur.worldflowconnect.net/login
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Powerful Thinking: Data Centres Drive Energy Demand
Clean Energy Regulation
Clean Energy in 2025: Geopolitics, AI and the New Investment Landscape

The global clean energy sector enters 2025 at a critical inflection point. Political shifts, technological leaps, and surging energy demand from AI are reshaping investment dynamics across renewables, storage, bioenergy, and carbon removal. This paper offers a sweeping yet incisive preview of the policies, markets, and megatrends that will define clean energy deployment in the year ahead.



Key Takeaways:



    Asia Steps Up as U.S. Retreats: With a Republican-led U.S. scaling back climate ambition, China is accelerating decarbonisation—cutting new coal permits, expanding EVs, and driving global cost reductions in solar, storage and clean tech manufacturing.


    AI’s Quiet Energy Revolution: Hyperscalers are fueling explosive demand for clean, always-on power. Forecasts suggest AI could drive up to 10% of U.S. electricity consumption by 2030—powering new opportunities in PPAs, long-duration storage and geothermal.


    CDR & Bioenergy Get a Boost: With global carbon markets advancing post-COP 29, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits are entering the mainstream. EU antidumping tariffs are also lifting European bioenergy economics, with biomethane and RNG gaining ground.


    Geothermal Re-emerges as Baseload Leader: Low-cost, dispatchable, and now more policy-supported, geothermal energy is positioned to meet AI’s base load demands and decarbonise urban heat networks across the UK, EU, and beyond.


    Policy Watch: UK’s 2030 Clean Power Plan, EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, and China’s Green Pivot: Regulatory momentum is strongest outside the U.S., with the UK committing to a near-zero grid by 2030 and China enshrining hydrogen, renewables, and storage in law for the first time.



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The global clean energy sector enters 2025 at a critical inflection point.
Clean Energy Regulation
Clean Power 2030: A Blueprint for the UK’s Low Carbon Electricity System
The UK Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out an ambitious yet actionable pathway to decarbonise the nation’s electricity grid by the end of the decade. This detailed roadmap addresses long-standing bottlenecks across planning, grid access, market reform, and flexibility—unlocking opportunity for clean energy developers, storage providers and system enablers alike.

Key Takeaways:



    95% Low-Carbon Generation by 2030:Carbon intensity is set to drop from 171gCO₂e/kWh to under 50gCO₂e/kWh. Support mechanisms are firmed up for wind, solar, tidal stream, BECCS, and nuclear.


    Grid and Planning Reform to Accelerate Deployment: New centralised planning frameworks and the “first ready, first connected” model reshape project prioritisation—benefiting advanced developers with shovel-ready assets.


    Long Duration Storage Gets a Floor: A cap-and-floor mechanism will open for applications by Q2 2025—offering price certainty and catalysing investment in flow batteries, pumped hydro and other long-duration flexibility assets.


    Clear Wins for UK Clean Energy Yieldcos and Storage Players:Companies like NESF, GRID, IES, DRX and PODP stand to benefit from improved policy tailwinds and market access, with CfDs evolving to reflect capacity, availability, and zonal pricing shifts.


    From Ambition to Execution: With storage capacity forecast to quadruple and system-wide flexibility at the core, the UK energy market is being fundamentally restructured to meet the demands of a high-renewables grid.


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Clean Energy Regulation
EU Clean Industrial Deal Sets the Stage for €100 Billion Green Energy Push
The European Commission’s new Clean Industrial Deal is a bold blueprint for transforming the continent’s energy and industrial base. With ambitions to streamline funding, accelerate permitting, and double down on renewables, this Deal aims to end Europe’s reliance on imported energy while positioning clean technologies at the heart of its economic future.

Key Takeaways:



    Strategic Investment Surge: The EU targets over €100 billion in mobilised funding to future-proof clean manufacturing and energy independence across the bloc.


    Policy-Backed Acceleration: New legislative frameworks—like the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act and a streamlined State Aid Framework—will fast-track project timelines and regulatory approvals.


    Renewables, Reimagined: Wind, solar, and offshore technologies are front and centre, with 100GW of new capacity targeted annually and tailored support through the European Ocean Pact and PPA guarantees.


    Hydrogen for Hard-to-Electrify Sectors: Backed by a fresh €1 billion call under the European Hydrogen Bank, hydrogen is positioned as a keystone solution for industrial decarbonisation.


    A New Era of Electrification & Standards: With plans to raise electrification to 32% by 2030, upcoming laws on EV infrastructure, carbon labelling, and sustainability reporting will redefine industrial norms.


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