Europe Created the Energy Transition. Can It Scale It? - Jan Lozek (Future Energy Ventures)

The European energy system currently utilizes only 30% of its distribution grid capacity on most days — a structural inefficiency that software and AI can unlock without laying a single new cable. Jan Lozek explains how intelligence and orchestration technologies are solving grid bottlenecks, accelerating renewable connections, and saving Europe trillions in fossil fuel dependency.

This conversation unpacks Future Energy Ventures' thesis: that the hardware for decarbonization already exists, but the missing layer is software to manage, flex, and coordinate distributed energy assets at scale. Lozek walks through real portfolio examples — from digital twins that find hidden grid capacity to fiber-optic monitoring that increases transmission throughput by 20% — and argues that venture capital's role in energy has shifted from funding new hardware to enabling smarter systems. He also addresses the tension between impact narratives and return expectations, the structural challenges of exiting climate tech in a down market, and why European LPs no longer accept concessionary returns for "noble" investments.

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