The IJGlobal Podcast

The Infra Dig podcast launches into the new year with the first episode serving as a reminder that “The Miami Conference” – IJ LatAm 2025 – is just around he corner and it’s shaping up to be the best one to date.

Running from 10-12 March at 1 Hotel South Beach, Miami, IJ LatAm 2025 has been running for more than 2 decades and is IJGlobal’s premier event, attracting around 700 delegates from across the region.

In preparation for this landmark event, IJGlobal has hosted a number of podcasts focused on the region and this latest one sees Nieves Polanco – project finance legal counsel at Sacyr – join IJ editorial director Angus Leslie Melville to talk about the market.

This latest episode of the Infra Dig podcast sees IJGlobal content director Angus Leslie Melville pull up a seat to the fireside to discuss artificial intelligence and its role in infrastructure and energy.

The guest on this podcast is Henri Yoki – founder and chief executive of Exaum Ltd – an interesting organisation that recently announced the launch of its 1MW AI-optimised grid balancing pilot, the latest step in scaling its heat-generation-based power demand response technology.

The pilot has been installed at Karhulan Industrial Park, 130km east of Helsinki.

This first-of-its-kind system aims to help enable the green energy transition by providing near-instantaneous grid balancing of power as more wind, solar, and other green but unpredictable sources are added to the transmission system operator’s supply choices.

In this podcast, Henri fields question on this pilot project in Finland as well as a host of question on the impact of AI on the broader infrastructure / energy community.

The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) was born from Brexit – the great British answer to the loss of the European Investment Bank (EIB) which had made it abundantly clear that departure from the EU came at a cost.

In the latest fireside chat style Infra Dig podcast, Angus Leslie Melville – editorial director of IJGlobal – talks to UKIB chief executive John Flint about the role the bank is currently playing and the one it plans to play in years to come.

Drawing parallels to the EIB, the Treasury Infrastructure Finance Unit (TIFU) that was launched in the wastelands of the Global Financial Crisis, and the Green Infrastructure Bank – which was flogged off to Macquarie – John speaks openly about UKIB plans.

While not asking the questions most bankers want asked – mostly because they were rude – John speaks candidly about staffing up and how UKIB plans to “crowd in” lending capabilities in a challenging market.

Another technology-based Infra Dig podcast – designed to foster greater understanding of the underlying assets that the infrastructure community invests in and lends to.

This latest episode seen IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville sit down for a fireside with Yash Tripathy – head of product at battery software company About:Energy.

Conversation centres on battery technology with a primary focus on its deployment in electric vertical take-off and landing – eVTOL – flying machines.

This is a sector that is ripe for investment and has an interesting future... and it’s one that IJ is keeping a close eye on as a future transport / delivery solution.

The Infra Dig podcast returns to its infrastructure fund interview format for this latest episode, interviewing 2 key players from UK-based clean energy investor Foresight Group.

IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville sits down (in person for this latest podcast) with 2 Foresight partners – fund managers of Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners (FEIP) – primarily to discuss MaresConnect.

The Infra Dig guests are Richard Thompson and Dan Wells and they are both deeply experienced infrastructure investors who have been building out the FEIP platforms for many years.

While conversation ranges across the fund manager’s strategy, the podcast is centred on the interconnector is being developed by MaresConnect Limited – which is owned by Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners and Etchea Energy Nominees Limited.

MaresConnect is an electricity interconnector that will run between Dublin and Bodelwyddan, Wales, and will link Irish and British electricity markets by 2030. The 750MW project will be around 245km.