Energy Insiders - a RenewEconomy Podcast The rise of the flexible grid: How industry, AI and data centres are reshaping demand
Feb 20, 2026
Michael Phelan, CEO of GridBeyond, leads an AI-driven company that optimises batteries, industrial loads and distributed assets. He discusses orchestrating data centres, batteries and industrial processes to unlock gigawatts of hidden flexibility. Short takes cover supermarket thermal inertia, EV chargers, community batteries and how markets and forecasting enable coordinated virtual power plants.
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Markets Share Common Primitives
- Markets share common structures: day-ahead, real-time and ancillary services, so software can adapt across regions.
- GridBeyond leverages these shared market primitives to scale optimisation globally.
Schedule Production Around Price Forecasts
- Align industrial production plans with seven-day energy price forecasts to lower energy costs.
- Use optimization to schedule mills and processes away from predicted high-price periods.
Supermarkets Use Thermal Inertia
- Supermarkets can use thermal inertia in freezers to ride short grid peaks without spoiling stock.
- They can safely pause cooling for an hour or two while maintaining product temperatures in many cases.