It's a good time to look at energy with completely new eyes

Martin Pacovský, the Chief Investment Officer of the newly established ARETE ENERGY TRANSITION fund focused on energy investments, was the first guest on the "Vysoké napětí (High Voltage)" podcast in June. He discussed the future of energy, the future of gas, the energy self-sufficiency of the Czech Republic, and the challenges of investing in the energy sector with Vladimír Piskáček and Michal Půr.

Do you know how to invest in energy? According to Martin Pacovský, these investments will require working with data. In the future, we can expect a shift in energy sector towards “kind of” stock exchange trading, and those who have good analytical skills, understand data, and can predict consumption and production in the span of days will win. This also applies to investments in various renewable resources.

Standalone investments in photovoltaics today do not have a positive return, and the energy sector and investments in this area operate differently than in the past. Owners of photovoltaic power plants without PPA (long-term power purchase agreements for renewable energy at a fixed or indexed price) optimize production based on weather predictions or capacity market forecasts. For instance, they deliberately do not produce or produce 20% less energy and sell this unproduced capacity on the deviation market. They arbitrage between different markets based on their demand and supply forecasts. It's no longer enough to have a power plant connected to the grid and produce energy when the sun shines. One must have a mathematical model and analysis over their business model and know when, where, and to whom to sell the produced energy.

In the show, you will also learn how Martin views the energy self-sufficiency of the Czech Republic and the future of gas.

You can listen to the entire podcast here: https://youtu.be/rMf1NGvtRcw