BSEIF’s Energy division has published its Initial Statement, the fourth piece of official divisional research released by the association, after the Digital Infrastructure, Infrastructure & Transport Logistics and Venture statements. Written by Antonio Puliafito, Head of Energy, it sets out how the division will study capital allocation, energy security and the economics of the energy transition.
Its starting point is that an energy investment can be justified for a country and still fail its investor, and that the reverse is equally possible. The sums involved make the distance between those two outcomes material. The International Energy Agency expects global energy investment to reach USD 3.4 trillion in 2026, with electricity-related spending close to 60% of the total. These are estimates of capital expenditure, however, and say nothing about the returns that capital will earn. The question the division asks is therefore narrower: which assets attract capital, on what terms, and which risks remain with the investor once the contracts are signed.
The statement answers it in four steps. It reads each asset as part of a system, using the World Energy Council’s trilemma of security, equity and sustainability without turning it into a ranking of technologies. It treats energy security as a claim that needs three specifications: the disruption it protects against, the period over which protection is required and who bears the cost. It builds the financial case from operating assumptions and commercial arrangements before reaching the valuation, with Eni’s sale of 20% of Plenitude as a case: the deal valued the equity at €10 billion and raised €2 billion for Eni as seller, which is not the same as €2 billion of new generating capacity. Finally, it treats regulation as part of an asset’s economics. Terna’s first MACSE storage auction, held on 30 September 2025, awarded 10 GWh at a weighted average premium of €12,959/MWh-year, about 65% below the reserve. Whether that leaves enough room for construction risk and battery degradation is the question the division would examine before reaching a verdict.
The research will be organised around five areas: oil, gas and global fuel markets; power generation and renewable energy; grids, storage and flexibility; electrification and industrial decarbonisation; and corporate strategy, transactions and financing. Financing, regulation and geopolitical exposure run across all five. The statement then describes joint work with each of the other divisions. The most direct link is with Digital Infrastructure, since the IEA expects data-centre electricity use to more than double to about 945 TWh by 2030, and a first joint study might ask whether a proposed data-centre expansion can secure power on the required timetable.
The statement also records the division’s commitments. Papers will be built around identifiable questions and challenged before publication, and output will never be increased at the expense of review. The division adopts the standards of the Digital Infrastructure statement: every figure will carry its source and date, estimates and forecasts will be labelled as such, each paper will state its data cut-off, and material errors will be corrected in a new, dated version. The papers present the analysis of their authors and the division, not the view of Bocconi University or of any company, speaker or partner, and do not constitute investment advice.
The full statement is available under Insights, in the Energy section. It can be read on the website, opened separately or downloaded as a PDF.