Women in MND: Energy that takes many forms

The year 2025 proved unfavourable for trading activities. Since the new US administration took office, an unpredictable ‘storm’ of tariffs has raged. The markets were unable to cope with this – and we were no exception. There were sharp fluctuations in energy commodity prices simply on the basis of Donald Trump’s comments on Twitter or in reaction to a newspaper headline, even though the latter contained no new information. A very unfortunate period.

Gas supplies in European countries are very comfortable in the first half of winter. Gas imports from Norway and liquefied gas from overseas are running smoothly. Storage facilities were sufficiently filled before winter, and weather forecasts currently indicate a warmer winter.

This summer, usually a period of holidays and rest, did not show the typical calm on the markets at all. On the contrary. The frequent change in US attitudes has continuously caused chaos and difficult-to-predict price movements.

In the last issue, I discussed the impact of the end of gas transit through Ukraine and concluded by stating that 2025 is a tight year in terms of balance. And how have markets developed since then?

At the end of 2024, the five-year contract between Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz for gas transit to Europe expired. Ukraine had previously announced that it was not interested in extending the contract, so the gas flow was stopped as of 1 January 2025.

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the most discussed technological phenomena. For a long time now, it has not only been discussed in the context of science fiction films or scientific research institutes. Thanks to increasingly powerful computing and the availability of data, AI technologies have seen a huge boom in recent months. AI is now making real inroads into all aspects of our lives, from work to healthcare, science, education and entertainment.

MNDs are looking at different market segments where it would be worthwhile to invest or at least be commercially active. One of the areas that caught our attention is the market for ancillary services and the volatility of electricity prices on the so-called spot market, where the price of electricity for the following day is determined. In cooperation with the Energy & Production Division, we are working on using our own gas for electricity generation (G2P Borkovany) and on investing in battery storage.