European power trading innovation: The rise of non-traditional actors

In the new world of decentralised generation, batteries, EVs and more sophisticated demand-side response, almost any organisation of size is potentially a power market participant

That large-scale integrated utilities are no longer the only show in town in Europe’s electricity markets is relatively well-known. But what is less recognised is that even organisations—be they commercial, municipal or state-owned—where energy is far removed from their core purpose are turning towards optimising their power needs and, in many cases, also supply and flexibility. And that has inspired Matt Nicholas, after over 15 years trading European gas and power, to found two firms, Watt3 in Switzerland and Twine Network in the UK, aimed at supporting these fledgling actors with a data-driven optimisation solution and as an energy services company (Esco).