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Over the course of eight episodes we have talked a lot about the current state of the energy storage market; this episode looks at where we are going, considering what the future of the sector might look like?

With a net zero 2050 as the guiding star for nearly all policy and energy decisions, how much storage will we need to get there? Where should it be deployed? What stands in the way? And what new technologies and developments might change the speed of that journey.

Joining content editor Andrew Dykes gazing into the crystal ball are BDO managing director John Strowger and Alexa Capital co-founder and fellow energy podcaster Gerard Reid.

The Megawatt Hour is a special podcast series brought to you by Energy Voice Out Loud in paid partnership with BDO.

The rapid expansion of energy storage is of course great news for our ability to deploy and use renewable energy – but doing so is not without its own challenges.

Batteries require raw materials from all across the world and an ever more complex supply chain; pumped storage sites require major changes to land use and access; and what can we do with facilities or assets that reach the end of their life – is it better to re-use, recycle or decommission?

And how do developers and investors ensure their commitments meet ever stricter guidance when deciding which projects to pursue?

Sorting the E’s from the SG’s is Professor Simon Pringle, who heads up the newly created Sustainability and ESG Hub at BDO and Peter Kavanagh, the chief executive and founder of developer and asset operator Harmony Energy.

The Megawatt Hour is a special podcast series brought to you by Energy Voice Out Loud in paid partnership with BDO.

Having considered grid-scale storage, in this episode we drill down to the small-scale to focus on where we’re most likely to interact with the technology in our daily lives – in our homes.

As home energy systems become increasingly smarter, storage is set to play a greater role in how we use and consume energy – and hopefully will not only help us use greater amounts of renewables, but may even save us some money.

Taking a tour of the smart home of the future with content editor Andrew Dykes is BDO director of financial model assurance services Andy Hucknall and Emilie Romain, a co-founder and operations director at home renewables supplier Ecobubl.

The Megawatt Hour is a special podcast series brought to you by Energy Voice Out Loud in paid partnership with BDO.

How energy storage can green the grid

In our first episode of 2023 we dive into arguably the most important aspect of how we are going to use and deploy energy storage – the network that underpins much of our electricity and energy systems, also known as the grid.

To discuss this, Energy Voice’s Andrew Dykes joined by BDO corporate finance partner David Bevan and RenewableUK director of future electricity systems Barney Wharton.

The UK already has an ambition to run a zero-carbon capable grid by 2025, and to reach 100% clean energy all the time by 2035. Energy storage will be essential to meeting those targets and ensuring greater amounts of renewable energy can be usefully deployed – but getting there will also require some changes to how we as consumers use energy, and how the grid itself operates.

The Megawatt Hour is a special podcast series brought to you by Energy Voice Out Loud in paid partnership with BDO.

The fifth instalment of our series sees Energy Voice’s Andrew Dykes joined by BDO corporate finance partner David Bevan and Nicholas Beatty, founder and director of Zenobe.

This episode sees us take a closer look at the role offinance and investment in the battery storage sector, exploring how investors and companies deploy capital, what makes a bankable project, whether expectations are changing with a maturing market and – perhaps most importantly - what investors expect to see in return.

In the third episode of our series, content editor Andrew Dykes is joined by co-host and BDO associate director Viran de Silva, as well as RheEnergise CEO Stephen Crosher and DNV VP for energy transition and innovation development, Sarah Kimpton.

Having taken a deep dive into the world of batteries, we now look at the other vectors available for storing energy from compressed air to heat – with a particular focus on the longer-term flexibility of hydrogen and pumped hydro.

In this the second episode of our special energy storage boxset series, content editor Andrew Dykes is joined by co-host David Bevan, corporate finance partner at BDO, and by Ben Guest, managing director and head of the New Energy division at alternative asset management group Gresham House.

This week we’ll be taking a deep dive into possibly the largest and liveliest area of the sector today - battery storage. In less than a decade the UK has moved from having no large-scale battery capacity to more than 1.6GW in operation.

We look at what’s driving that growth, the hurdles faced by the sector, and importantly what opportunities may lie ahead.

Diversity and inclusion has been gathering momentum as a key consideration for financial institutions over the past few years and even more so now the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) recently published its highly anticipated Policy Statement on Diversity and Inclusion requirements for Boards and Executive Management, following a Consultation Period which closed in October 2021.

In this first episode of our new Regulatory Insights series, we discuss the regulator’s expectations and how Firms can meet these expectations in the context of where the industry is now and where it needs to get to.

Hosted by Jonty Bloom, speakers include Sasha Molodtsov and Dr Jennifer Cafferky from our Financial Services Advisory practice. Sasha and Jennifer are joined by guest speaker Birgit Neu, Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor and former Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at HSBC Holdings PLC.

This is the Megawatt Hour, the latest podcast series brought to you by Energy Voice Out Loud in paid partnership with BDO.

In this, the first episode of our boxset series, content editor Andrew Dykes is joined by co-host David Bevan, corporate finance partner at BDO and by special guest Marek Kubik, a founding member and managing director of energy storage technology company Fluence.

Together they take a broad look at some of the fundamentals of energy storage including the range of technologies available, how they work, and why the market is really taking off today as increasing amounts of new renewable capacity is added to the grid.

In this podcast edition we'll be looking at the world of recruitment with a special emphasis on the tech business sector. To do that I'm joined by Piers Collins, co-founder of Hundo; a start-up that's trying to link the right firms with the right new employees through a learn to earn online campus. Matthew Gilmour from BDO's growth advisory team and David Ellis from BDO who specialises in advising firms on how to create the right pay and reward strategy.

For more information, please visit here.

For this edition, we are joined by Karen Riley (Tax Director) from our National Tax Risk team. Karen and John discuss the latest updates on all aspects of Corporate Criminal Offence (“CCO”) legislation.

The Corporate Criminal Offence (CCO) legislation means that if an “associated person” of a business criminally facilitates tax evasion, and the business is unable to demonstrate that it had reasonable procedures in place to prevent such facilitation, the business is guilty of a criminal offence.

An “Associated person” is defined widely and includes any person (individual or corporate) who represents (or provides a service for or on behalf of) the business - employees, contractors, agents, and in certain circumstances external suppliers.

As supply chain models get more sophisticated, clients as engagers must keep up with their employer obligations and ensure that not only are they compliant but their suppliers are too.

This has meant the usual obligations for an employer have become more complicated and often the lines appear blurred between the obligations of a traditional employer and those of an engager choosing alternative resourcing solutions to fill the void of employees. Now is the time for organisations to understand the accompanying risks and implement robust mitigation strategies.

BDO’s CCO Toolkit can help your organisation take the first steps towards remaining compliant.

Download our latest podcast to understand the risks and how the CCO can link to your employee strategy for the year ahead.

Speaker Sophie Michael provides an overview of the retail forecasts for 2022. Our host Fiona Condron, partner speaks to Robin Osterley, Chief Executive at the Charity Retail Association to get his view on what is happening in the Charity retail sector.

For more information, click here.

This month in Growing Pains we are using our excellent network of experts and some of our valued clients as well. Today we are looking at growing your business and especially moving on from a small tech start up to a much larger business.

For this edition, we are joined by Caroline Jones (Tax Director) and Kyle Newton (Senior Manager) from our National Employment Tax team. Caroline and the team discuss the latest updates on all aspects of National Minimum Wage (“NMW”) legislation.

Speakers: Caroline Jones (Tax Director) and Kyle Newton (Senior Manager) from our National Employment Tax team

Intrigued to know the ups and downs of buying and selling your business? Host Jonty Bloom, is joined by Kevin Batley, Managing Director, Sahara. and Gordon Carstairs, Corporate Finance Managing Director, BDO where they explore the two ends of the spectrum.

Speakers: Gordon Carstairs, Corporate Finance Managing Director, BDO. Kevin Batley, Managing Director, Sahara.

We are joined by Matt Harrison and Jon Claypole to discuss the latest updates around the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”). Jon is part of BDO’s Tax Dispute Resolution team, and Matt is an Employment Tax specialist. The group cover HMRC activity around CJRS, especially the concept of ‘furlough fraud’. 

Speakers: Caroline Harwood (National Head of Employment Tax), Jon Claypole (Partner, Tax Dispute Resolution) and Matt Harrison (Tax Manager, Employment Tax).

Join the Employment Tax team as we are joined by Richard Austin, BDO’s Head of Manufacturing. We discuss the impact of current workforce challenges on the sector. Manufacturers are like many other industries in that they are currently struggling to retain their people at both blue- and white-collar level. Competition is high as employers adapt their businesses to reward people, and so we expect inflation across the sector. There is also a focus on National Minimum Wage compliance and added risk as the industry look at developing junior staff as a priority. Speakers: Speakers: John Chaplin (Partner,  Employment Tax), Rob Woodward (Associate Director, Employment Tax) and Richard Austin (Partner and Head of Manufacturing).

Host Jonty Bloom, is joined by Emily Villatte, CFO of Acast, Veronika Lipinksa, Senior Tax Manager, BDO, David Ogden, Director, BDO and Jamie Carter, Partner, BDO to discuss the implications of International share schemes and equity incentives.

Speakers: Emily Villatte, CFO of Acast, Veronika Lipinksa, Senior Tax Manager, BDO, David Ogden, Director, BDO and Jamie Carter, Partner, BDO.

Over time, the role of the umbrella company has evolved, with some agencies using them as a way to outsource the administrative obligations associated with hiring and paying the short-term workers their clients require, rather than simply making use of any tax breaks associated with umbrella employment. Join John Chaplin and Rob Woodward from BDO's Employment Tax team as they update you on the current status of umbrella companies and why using one to help bridge issues around staffing may be a bigger risk than expected.

Speakers: John Chaplin, Partner, Rob Woodward, Associate Director, Employment Tax

For a large number of office workers, it used to be so simple. Pre-pandemic, you went to the office. During the pandemic, you stayed at home. Now, it’s a confusing and difficult balance for employers to strike when looking to remain compliant with their employees ‘working from anywhere’. Listen to our new podcast focusing on Labour Supply Chain issues, featuring John Chaplin and Mark Seaden from our Employment Tax team. Mark outlines his three key employment tax areas to consider when re-working your remote/home working policy: Review, document and communicate.

Speakers: John Chaplin, Partner and Mark Seaden, Employment Tax Director

With the world being more remote that it's ever been before, we look into businesses being able to work from anywhere in the world. Of course this can come with complications, we delve into what these look like and what the implications are.

With real life scenarios being discussed, we get a real insight into how to overcome/tackle this issue.

Speakers: Oliver Boughton, CFO, Iris Worldwide, Karen McGrory, BDO Partner, Global Employer Services, Vinesh Bharadwa, BDO Tax Partner, Martyne Pearson, BDO VAT Director.

Rethink Business, the podcast powered by BDO for ambitious entrepreneurs, where Adam Norris, Founder of Pure Electric, Paymen Sabeti, Operations Director of Sabeti Wain Areospace and Barinder Hothi, Managing Director of The Knowledge Academy share their insights and experiences that have contributed to their business’ success and how they have embedded resilience whilst continuing to innovate and grow.

When it comes to keeping businesses up and running, knowing the right questions to ask and where to find the information you need can make all the difference. In this podcast you can hear Mark Sykes, BDO partner, talk about board level planning, unlocking the potential of an agile way of working, and how entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood – despite facing personal adversity – was able to lead the industrial revolution in the pottery industry and pioneer marketing tactics still being used today.

In this podcast, we hear from BDO Risk Advisory Services Partner, Tim Foster, explaining how BDO emerged through crisis by developing the Rethink model. The model has been tried and tested (and trusted) by BDO globally, and it is now being used to help BDO clients build resilience into their businesses. Find out how you can identify the key stages, issues and opportunities to help you succeed post COVID-19.

The Great Plague, Fire of London, the Financial Crash and now COVID-19; throughout history, there have been many unexpected events that have impacted the world and in this podcast, we take a look at how economies and businesses adapted to survive. Listen to Paul Eagland, BDO Managing Partner, who explains why he is feeling optimistic about the new reality and whom he particularly admires for the way they have responded to adversity.