Ep. 31: Farhan Farrukh, Business Development Manager at NODES— Local Flexibility Markets, DSOs and the Future of the Grid

In this episode Claudio speaks with Farhan
Farrukh, Business Development Manager at NODES,
the Norwegian flexibility market platform connecting grid
operators and distributed energy resources. Farhan’s global
journey—from growing up in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to studying
energy engineering in Belgium and France, and now shaping
Europe’s local flexibility markets from Oslo—offers a truly
international perspective on the energy transition.


We discuss how NODES evolved from a single Norwegian DSO
experiment into a cross-European platform operating in Norway,
Sweden, Finland, Belgium, and Canada, and how it helps grid
companies defer costly grid upgrades by trading flexibility from
batteries, EV chargers, heat pumps, and industrial assets.


Key topics include:


The origin story of NODES and its digital twin approach to
modeling distribution grids

How DSOs, TSOs, and flexibility service providers (FSPs)
trade capacity and energy on a local level

Market products such as Long Flex, Short Flex, and Max Usage,
and how they enable value stacking

Why regulation and incentive design (CapEx vs. OpEx) are
crucial for scaling flexibility markets

Insights from pilots in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, and
the UK

API-first product design and how aggregators use it to
integrate household and fleet flexibility

The importance of smart meters, visibility, and DSO–TSO
coordination for congestion management



Farhan also shares lessons from his startup
ChargeBnB, the “Airbnb for charging” that
tackled underused charging infrastructure in Norway, and what he
learned about user trust, business models, and scaling
challenges. We close with a look at E-mobility in Saudi
Arabia and Pakistan, where new policies, solar
economics, and two-wheeler electrification are redefining
sustainable transport.


A deep dive into how market-based flexibility, smart regulation,
and digital infrastructure can redefine how we balance the
grid—one node at a time.