This is The Conviction Play. Power and energy systems. One of the forces we underwrite against, and this is what it is and where it leads.

Electricity has to be generated, moved, stored and controlled in far greater volume and with far less tolerance for failure than the system was built for. Capital lands here whether the driver is decarbonisation, industrial load growth or simple replacement of assets past their life.

The physical world does most of the work in this one, not some of it. Heat raises the peaks, decarbonisation raises the volume, and the grid has to carry both at once.

Underneath it, the themes.

Grid Expansion, Reinforcement and Modernisation. The wires themselves. Transmission and distribution built out and strengthened to carry more power, and to carry it in both directions, now that buildings generate as well as consume. The least glamorous line on the whole map, and the one nothing else works without.

End-Use Electrification of Transport, Industry and Buildings. Everything that currently burns something switching to running on electricity instead. Vehicles, industrial heat, home heating. Every switch adds demand at the plug, which is what makes grid expansion urgent rather than merely overdue.

Power Management, Efficiency and Control Systems. The equipment in between. The kit that converts power from one form to another, holds it steady, and wastes as little of it as possible. An electrified system has far more of these conversion points than the one it replaces.

We have not published a company under this force yet. That is a statement about where the work has reached, not a judgement that there is nothing here.

The whole map is on the site, with every theme written out and the companies we have covered under each one. It is free, with no email address and no paywall, at the conviction play dot com.

This is one of a series on the forces. The companies we judge exceptional have their own recordings, and everything we have made is collected at the conviction play dot com, under Listen.

A note before we finish. This episode is narrated by a synthetic voice, not by the author. This is a map of where capital is going. It is not a view on any share price, not a valuation, and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. A force can be real and every company exposed to it still be a poor investment. The Conviction Play publishes general commentary for information only. It is not investment advice and it is not a personal recommendation. Capital is at risk, and the value of investments can fall as well as rise. The map is revised as the evidence changes, and this episode reflects it as it stood on the day it was made.

That was Power and energy systems, from The Conviction Play. Thank you for listening.