Speaking and moderating at ADIPEC 2025

Delighted to announce that yours truly will be moderating and speaking at ADIPEC 2025 - the world's largest energy conference and exhibition - in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from November 3 to 6, on a number of panels and executive dialogues. Explore the event's agenda touching on critical energy issues, latest technological developments, and energy transition through innovation, visionary leadership and action here.

And more on the Oilholic's panels and sessions here.

Looking forward to the deliberations, meeting thought leaders, fellow industry professionals and colleagues. Join, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in Abu Dhabi.

Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Digital event banner courtesy of dmgevents.

On datacentres & smart cities at SE Innovation Summit

As Schneider Electric's Innovation Summit entered its home stretch on day two of the event, the Oilholic touched on two key energy consumption segments - datacenters and smart cities. 

Starting with the latter, as urban centres expand, so does their power demand. 

It has led many to envision digitally-premised 'smart' cities with efficient energy and communications systems, dwellings, offices, and, a whole new way of urban living in the digital age. 

Among the many things that Schneider Electric is attempting in this space, are what the company describes as "Impact Buildings" - spaces that are digitally intelligent, energy efficient, and "designed with people in mind." 

For the company these building projects showcase how technology, sustainability, and innovation can come together to create spaces that are not only high performing and low carbon, but also serve as real world examples of what is possible today. 

They typically deploy digital energy solutions and have smart sensors for data gathering for management, maintenance and efficient day-to-day running of the building from workspace management to lighting and temperature control.

The first of these from Schneider Electric - NEST impact building - was launched in Dubai in May. It was great discussing NEST's potential with the key leadership team behind it all - Frederic Godemel, EVP Energy Management at Schneider Electric and Manish Kumar, EVP Digital Energy at Schneider Electric. 

While Godemel and Kumar outlined the headline case and technologies underpinning the move, it was fascinating listening to Matthew Proctor, Global Sales Lead, Enterprise Software, at Schneider Electric, offer a glimpse into the live-feed visual display of the digital footprint of the building. 

This blogger is also grateful to Martin Jensen, EMEA WD Division President at global real estate and property management firm JLL (who are partnering with Schneider Electric on the impact buildings), for discussing their commercial future. 

Away from smart buildings and smart cities, yours truly also took time out explore what Sebastian Bøtcher, Sales Director, Secure Power at Schneider Electric Denmark, described as addressing the "chip to chilling" aspect of hyperscale datacentres, supercomputers and AI. 

By that token, Bøtcher's team is providing solutions to the Danish Centre for AI Innovation or DCAI, a company established to run and operate Gefion, Denmark’s first AI supercomputer. It's named after a goddess in the country's mythology.

DCAI is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and by EIFO. During a visit to the site, on the sidelines of the summit, the Oilholic met Nadia Carlsten, CEO of DCAI, her colleague Ali Syed, who's the SVP of Infrastructure, and, of course Bøtcher himself.

Carlsten said DCAI's work offers a testament to the seriousness with which Denmark is approaching the potential, premise and deployment of AI solutions and services and their growing role in the Danish economy. 

"Our mission is to lower the barrier to access the most advanced computing capabilities in Denmark in particular, and the region in general. We work with customers from academia, startups, and enterprise to accelerate AI research and innovation," Carlsten said.

Syed added that the facility is not just a deployment hub for AI in Demark, but also a mission critical learning and testing ground as hyperscale datacentres proliferate globally. 

"It is as much about the direction of travel, as it is about recognising the power of AI in step with our partners and end users," he added.

And Bøtcher brought Schneider Electric's "electrify, automate & digitalize" everything message into the mix, noting that: "We are  part of that learning and collaborating ecosystem, as AI rises in prominence, and there is a growing clamour for the solutions we offer." 

"We hope to extrapolate our infrastructural and digital learnings from DCAI to our wider business, and bring our global expertise in the sphere to them. Real two-way synergies are in play here."

Elsewhere at the summit, several dignitaries joined the Schneider Electric leadership in offering their perspectives on the road ahead and the energy transition. 

They included Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of International Energy Agency. It was a pleasure to reconnect with Dr Birol, however briefly, as both him and yours truly were entering / exiting the plenary stage. 

Earlier, Dr Birol offered views on the unfolding energy transition, and how balancing traditional and renewable forms of energy is a tough and ever evolving challenge. 

He was followed by Nicolai Wammen, Minister of Finance of Denmark, who discussed the pressing need for investment in innovation, and managing the energy trilemma - i.e. balancing affordability, security and sustainability. 

Lastly, yours truly also took to his public engagements on day two, speaking at the event with industry experts from around the world. Overall, around 5,000 global attendees were at the summit for two insightful days in Copenhagen.

Several deployment cases for EcoStruxure - Schneider Electric's open, AI-powered platform that creates what the company describes as "intelligent ecosystems to drive real-time insights, resilience, and efficiency" - were also visited, often accompanied by real-time demonstrations. 

Well that's a wrap from the Innovation Summit this year. Until next time folks. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'!

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Exhibition floor of Schneider Electric Innovation Summit, October 23, 2025. Photo II: (L to R) Frederic Godemel, EVP Energy Management at Schneider Electric, Martin Jensen, EMEA WD Division President, JLL, Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma, Manish Kumar, EVP Digital Energy at Schneider Electric and Matthew Proctor, Global Sales Lead, Enterprise Software at Schneider Electric. Photo III: (L to R) Ali Syed, SVP of Infrastructure, DCAI, Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma, Nadia Carlsten, CEO of DCAI, Sebastian Bøtcher, Sales Director, Secure Power at Schneider Electric Denmark. Photos IV & V: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma speaks at the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit 2025. 

SE Innovation Summit: 'Electrify, automate & digitalize'

The Oilholic concluded a fascinating and insightful day one of Schneider Electric's Innovation Summit 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark last evening with a heavy emphasis on "electrifying, automating and digitizing" everything by the energy management and automation company. 

That's buildings, data centres, heavy industries, grids, infrastructure and all else in between. 

Through its longstanding and ever evolving EcoStruxure platform, the company offers to embed intelligence at every level. It's grounded in the company's belief that electricity will come to dominate the global energy mix and in the fullness of time demonstrate its ultimate value in terms of transition economics, as said by the company's CEO Olivier Blum in what was his first keynote since taking over as the company's boss. (Read all about it in the Oilholic's latest Forbes missive here).

The company also took the opportunity for a widely expected launch of SE Advisory Services that would combine its company-wide consulting offering under one specialist business unit. 

It adds specialised software, AI and project implementation to its existing suite of consulting services. 

Schneider Electric also published a new report noting that electrification could save Europe €250 billion (£217 billion, $290 billion) per year by 2040 through accelerated electrification. 

The report observed that currently the electrification rate in Europe is just 21%, a figure that hasn’t changed in the last decade and is 10% behind China where rapid electrification is taking place. 

At the same time, the cost of residential energy use in the EU is 0.27 euro per kWh. In the US, that figure is 0.15, and China comes in at 0.08 euro per kWh. 

This puts the price of everyday activity for every EU citizen three times higher than those in China. 

The report titled - Europe energy security and competitiveness – supercharging electrification - suggests that accelerated electrification could alter the dynamic and result in huge continent-wide savings. 

Have a read here, and let the Oilholic know what you make of the findings. That's all for the moment folks. More musings to follow soon from Copenhagen. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'!

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma at Schneider Electric's Innovation Summit on October 22, 2025. Photo II: Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum speaks at the Innovation Summit. Photo III: Innovation Summit crowds on day one of the event. © Gaurav Sharma, October, 2025.

Speaking at Schneider Electric's Innovation Summit

Delighted to announce that yours truly has partnered with global digital automation and energy management giant Schneider Electric to speak and moderate at the company's upcoming Innovation Summit.

The event - being held from October 22 to 23, 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark - is part of Schneider Electric's global Innovation Summit series. This year's theme is "Impact today for a better tomorrow."

Explore the summit's ground-breaking agenda here. 

The two-day event will draw in a number of global leaders and industry experts including Olivier Blum, CEO of Schneider Electric, Lord Turner, Chair of Energy Transitions Commission, Nicolai Wammen, Minister of Finance of Denmark, Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Tobias Hansson, Country President, Hitachi Energy Sweden, and Teppo Hemiä, CEO of Wirepas, among many others. 

Really looking forward to the deliberations, meeting industry leaders, technologists, Schneider Electric experts and friends. Join, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in Copenhagen. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'!

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Speaker profile of energy analyst Gaurav Sharma at Innovation Summit 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark © Schneider Electric, October, 2025.

Attending the Fuellers' Master installation dinner

The Oilholic joined friends and colleagues from across the energy spectrum for a very special occasion last Wednesday - the installation ceremony and dinner of his good friend and fellow industry analyst Ashutosh Shastri as the Master of The Worshipful Company of Fuellers, one of the livery companies of the City of London. 

The company has its historic roots in coal and the earliest known references to it appear in 1376, according to national archives. 

Its origins can be traced backed to the Worshipful Company of Woodmongers & Coal Sellers, commonly known as the Fuellers. Some other fun facts at a glance include being granted City Status in 1981, Livery Status in 1984, and (another) Royal Charter in 2014. It had a Royal charter previously, but surrendered it not so long ago in 1667! The Fuellers are now associated with the entire energy sector. 

For the next year, Shastri will have the privilege and pleasure of leading the Company that is a powerful voice across the industry with members representing oil, gas, renewables, nuclear, hydrogen segments, and more. 

They engage in a range of activities from production, supply and distribution to research and analysis, finance and education to energy procurement. 

As for the Master Fueller Ashutosh "Ash" Shastri himself, yours truly first met him some 15 years ago at an energy conference in Istanbul. A sparring match on a panel over the future of LNG and role of natural gas in the energy mix subsequently led to a friendship that's stood the test of time. 

In his address, the Master Fueller spoke of the need for collaboration, listening and engaging when it comes to dealing with the pressing issue of our age - energy security and competitive pricing. It was great joining him on this momentous occasion, and to meet so many familiar faces and friends from the industry. 

In particular, it was great to catch up with the inimitable Neil Atkinson, a voice of reason in the world of energy analysis and Court Assistant to The Fuellers, in-person for a change after ages (rather than via a video call), and raise a glass (make that two) of bubbly. 

Also met Valerie Ducrot, Executive Director of the Global Gas Centre, for the very first time and heard about the Centre's sterling work. 

Along with the installation of Shastri as the Master, came the appointments of Louise Thompson as Senior Warden, and Dr Tom James, Junior Warden, as officers of the company. The Oilholic's sincere congratulations to the Worshipful Company of Fuellers for putting on a splendid event, and to Shastri, Thompson and James for their installation as current officers of the Company. 

Last, but certainly not the least, sincere congratulations also to Elena Oderstone, the immediate past Master who handed over Shastri, for her sterling work for the Company over the last 12 months, and her longstanding engagement with it through various offices.

Well that's all for the moment folks. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'!

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Installation ceremony of Ashutosh Shastri as the Master of The Worshipful Company of Fuellers on October 8, 2025. Photo II: Master Ashutosh Shastri addresses he Worshipful Company of Fuellers' dinner attendees. Photo III: © Gaurav Sharma (left) with fellow independent energy analyst, and court assistant to the Fuellers Neil Atkinson. October, 2025.