It’s Eurovision! Solar Startups Edition (live from the SolarPower Summit) – with Jenny Chase and the European Solar Startup Award finalists

Recorded on-site at the SolarPower Summit in Brussels, this
week’s episode captures the market developments and innovative
young companies shaping Europe’s clean energy transition.


We kick things off with renowned BloombergNEF solar analyst Jenny
Chase, who joins us to unpack why batteries have become the
defining technology conversation across Europe’s solar sector. As
PV penetration rates continue to increase and negative pricing
events become more common, Jenny explains why in this next phase
of development, the industry’s challenge is managing flexibility,
storage, and increasingly volatile power markets.


The conversation touches on anticipated developments like
changing energy-trading models, EV smart charging, and
long-duration storage, while also exploring how software and
intelligent asset management are becoming as important as the
hardware itself. And Jenny flags battery revenue cannibalization
as a trend to keep an eye out for.


The second half of the episode features interviews with the four
finalists of the European Solar Startup Award, recorded directly
after the competition finals at the summit:




We speak with Sweden’s Qurrent about hybrid solar and battery
optimization platforms designed to unlock new revenue streams
for renewable assets.




Finland’s Polar Night Energy explains how high-temperature
sand batteries could provide low-cost industrial heat and
long-duration storage using excess renewable electricity.




Gridio discusses the growing importance of seamless EV smart
charging and integrating electric vehicles with home solar
systems.




And finally, we hear from reLi Energy – the winner of the
competition – on one of the battery sector’s most urgent
emerging challenges: degradation management and how smarter
operation of battery assets could dramatically improve
long-term revenues and asset lifetimes.




From the summit location in Brussels, this episode of The smarter
E podcast provides a snapshot of where the European energy
transition is heading next.


Thank you to SolarPower Europe for the event invitation.


️ Questions or feedback? Write us at
podcast@thesmartere.com