Live from Octopus Energy HQ: Over-hyped, Under-hyped, or Hyped-Just-Right?

Introducing the origin story of Power Plays and celebrating with a live audience event hosted by Octopus Energy in London. We gave the audience six recent talking points in energy and asked them to vote: over-hyped, under-hyped, or hyped just right? The results weren't always what we expected. We also opened the floor to audience questions - from the future of the grid to hydropower's image problem, moonshots, and whether the North Sea still has a role to play.

The game — six topics, audience votes, live debate:

• Enhanced geothermal — less than 1% of global geothermal output today, but with oil & gas tailwinds in the US, is it finally having its moment?
• Balcony solar — a technology that started in off-grid Africa and is now trending in Germany and the UK. Does the 4–6 year payback period justify the hype?
• Vehicle-to-grid — why we both think this is deeply underhyped
• Coal phase-out — under-hyped according to the room. Why the UK's experience gives us a misleading picture of where global coal consumption is actually going
• Copper supply — the metal driving electrification, new refining and recycling technologies, alongisde substitution and optimisation opportunties
• Critical minerals geopolitics — Lucy takes the contrarian position: are we strategising for 60 very different supply chains together in a frenzied race that risks making energy more expensive for everyone?

Audience Q&A:

• The grid of the future: who builds it, who pays, and how distributed resources could let us do more with what we already have
• Why hydropower isn't sexy — and why it should be, from Snowy 2.0 to the Grand Renaissance and Itaipu
• Moonshots: space-based solar generation, beaming energy across time zones, and fusion