Turning a Yield-Co into an AI-Native, Next-Gen IPP with David Willemsen of Tion

Welcome back to the Pexapark Podcast!In the first part of the episode, Luca Pedretti is joined by David Willemsen, Chief Commercial and Chief Digitalisation Officer at Tion Renewables, to discuss why the yieldco model that once defined listed IPPs is under strain, and what a next-generation IPP looks like when rebuilt from the ground up. The conversation covers how Tion has built out its commercial and energy management teams, why it now develops much of its revenue and reporting software in-house, and where David sees the limits of relying on AI without the right data foundation underneath it.Key themes from the discussion include:Why listed IPPs and yieldcos have been trading below net asset valueHow EQT's 2023 takeover pushed Tion toward rigorous governance and a full IPP operating modelHow Tion structures its commercial, energy management, and data teams into a “revenue organization”What it means to run a “digital IPP,” and which software Tion now builds in-house instead of buyingWhy proprietary data, not the AI tools themselves, is becoming the real differentiatorWhy AI resilience, including provider independence and sound underlying data, matters as automation growsIn the second part of the episode, Luca turns to recent Pexapark market intelligence. He looks at PJM, where an overhauled interconnection process has already qualified roughly 60 GW of battery storage capacity, positioning batteries as the leading resource by project count as capacity valuations climb toward record prices. He then turns to Southeastern Europe, where the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism pulled Western Balkan power prices sharply away from neighboring EU markets before partially converging in the second quarter. Luca highlights the resulting basis risk for cross-border PPAs benchmarked against EU prices, while noting that linking specific non-EU assets to EU buyers through PPAs could unlock new deal activity under the mechanism's rules. Unlock More PPA Market InsightsRegister for your free Pexapark account to stay updated on the latest energy transition trends. Learn more >