DR. MAREK KUBIK
ABOUT
Welcome internet traveller to this landing page - a conduit for gathering all my papers and publications - as well as a little about who I am and what I stand for! If you are getting in touch about public speaking or advisory, please jump to the "Contact" section.
Sustainability Pioneer
Accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy is key to our future prosperity, and the technology that underpins the success of this transition is energy storage. I have been at the forefront of this industry since 2009. After completing my PhD I was part of the founding team of Fluence, a start-up we grew into a global leader in grid-scale storage, helping to develop and deploy the technology needed to decarbonise power grids. I'm a passionate tech evangelist and frequent public speaker including plenary keynotes to thousands of delegates. In 2017, Forbes made me an honouree of their 30 Under 30 list in recognition of my leadership in this sector.
Technology Futurist
I like to spend time thinking and reflecting about the world we live in and the science and technology breakthroughs that are shaping the world. The future isn't some abstract, distant utopia (or dystopia); the technology adoption curve is accelerating, often with implications difficult to comprehend and complex. I'm a board and UN advisor on such topics as well as a frequent media contributor through various platforms on a vision for the future energy system we are rapidly converging towards, shaped by technology and people.
Digital Nomad
British-born but of Polish descent, I'm an avid traveller and explorer, having visited 65+ countries & territories across 6 continents of the world. I currently live in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I believe that finding new angles and perspectives on all global issues is critical for helping us build bridges rather than walls between communities. Travelling, living and working in different places around the world has given me an opportunity to develop cultural fluency, an international network of connections, and enrich my knowledge of different cultures.
TED Talk
Featured in the top TED talks on Clean Energy by Forbes and Freeing Energy
MY EXPERIENCE
I'm a firm believer in the power of technology to drastically advance our living standards and wellbeing.
I strive to catalyse such change.
Thought Leader
I took the path of completing masters and doctoral degrees in engineering, with a focus on how to enable a sustainable energy system. I have been leading the conversation as an invited speaker on sustainability and energy storage at hundreds of events including the UN, Forbes Summits, as well as top universities including Imperial, Cambridge and Oxford. I am a recognised Linked In 'Top Voice' with 26,000+ followers.
Energy Storage Aficionado
I have over 15 years of experience in technology entrepreneurship in the energy sector, helping accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy across many roles. Notably, I was a founder and MD of Fluence, a global leader in grid-scale battery storage, and currently, I serve as a director of Battery Energy Storage Systems at ENOWA in NEOM, building a 100% renewable power grid from scratch in Saudi Arabia.
Board, Government & UN Advisor
I have previously worked in Westminster at POST and served on the board of the UK Electricity Storage Network. I am currently an invited expert at the United Nations Group of Experts on Cleaner Electricity Systems, a subsidiary body of the Committee on Sustainable Energy, meeting typically once a year at the UN headquarters in Geneva. I also serve as a specialist board advisor to infrastructure investor Reichmuth & Co.
PODCASTS
The Megawatt Hour. Episode 1 | July 2022
Modo: The Podcast. Unlocking the potential of batteries | April 2022
Insiders Guide to Energy. Episode 10 | December 2021
Energy Transition Now with David Linden. Episode 13 | November 2021
Rational Mind with Pietro Boselli. "Episode 1: Energy" | July 2021
Phil with F30. "Episode 40: Creator of the UK's largest Storage Site" | February 2021
Sustainability Defined. "Episode 57: Energy Storage with Marek Kubik" | January 2021
IMPACT 20: The National Conversation. "Sustainability: Harnessing the momentum of a greener economy" | September 2020
SunCast Podcast: "Episode 251 - Can Batteries win in pay-for-performance?" | April 2020
Redefining Energy Podcast: "Episode 21: Energy Storage System: “the Holy Grail” | March 2020
Shell: The Energy Podcast: "Episode 1 - Battery technology: where could it take us?" | April 2019
Leaders In Cleantech Podcast: "Episode 8: Interview, Marek Kubik" | January 2019
MY ADVENTURES
I love to get involved in a whole host of things to challenge myself and develop as a person, as well as hopefully improve the world in some small way. Consider these a collection of some of my other passions from over the years.
The Explorer
I'm an avid traveller, with a thirst to experience new cultures and meet new people. I've explored 6 continents, from deserts to rainforests, mountain peaks to ocean floors.
The Photographer
I enjoy capturing the world's diverse wonders and curiosities through a lens, and have amassed a diverse collection from my travels. I occasionally exhibit my photography and sell prints.
The Diplomat
I'm a member of the UN Group of Experts on Cleaner Electricity Systems, a subsidiary body that focuses on activities that significantly reduce GHG emissions from fossil fuel electricity.
The Volunteer
I was Durham University branch President at sustainable development charity Engineers Without Borders, managing
sustainability projects and using engineering to help people prosper.
The Actor
Film industry friends rejuvenated my interest in the creative arts (and yes that is the real Iron Throne). I've been a registered Extra and appeared in several film & tv productions including Cannes feature film 'A Christmas Star' (alongside Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson!).
The Physicist
NASA do more than send rockets into space. They also have a big role in helping us understand the world we live in. I worked with NASA data during my PhD to validate new ways of simulating generation from wind, receiving a high commendation from the Institute of Physics in 2015.
The YLUKer
During the Obama presidency, I was a member of the US Embassy's UK Young Leaders program. The US Mission recognised this as a way to strengthen the special relationship and I regularly connected with the US Ambassador and business leaders through hosted events.
Carl Sagan
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us... every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there, on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER
Some of the diverse projects I've been involved with
Building a net zero grid by 2030
Mission: enable a 100% power grid from scratch in record time
As Director of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in ENOWA, NEOM's clean energy, water & green hydrogen company I am helping to build a grid 100% powered by renewable energy from scratch in a short few years. NEOM is the world's largest sustainable infrastructure project ($500b+) in Saudi Arabia, including iconic projects like the linear, car-free city 'The Line', a mountain ski resort 'Trojena' and an industrial port city 'Oxagon'.
Sustainable housing in India
Mission: salvage international development project, empower locals.
Analysis into an international development project to identify why earthquake-resistant dome housing structures were failing. I worked with an Indian NGO and development charity EWB to find a solution. I also developed structural analysis tools that empowered the NGO to teach structural design to its students. This was recognised by the Frazer-Nash Consultancy Award for Innovation and the honour of ICE Civil Engineering Student of the Year.
Europe's first big battery
Mission: introduce game changing technology to market.
I had a lead role in the development of (at that time) Europe's largest and first fully commercial battery energy storage project in 2015, aligning stakeholders to accelerate market opening. The UK Government hailed it as 'game changing green technology' that will help integrate renewables, reduce bills and improve energy security. For my role leading the project, I was named the Energy Institute's Young Energy Professional of the Year.
Photography start-up
Mission: take stories, not pictures.
With encouragement from friends and family, I set out to stretch my entrepreneurial muscles and begin sharing my passion for travel photography, negotiating some resale agreements through local businesses. I've exhibited in DOCK Cafe and Kaffe O in Belfast and been interviewed by BBC radio about my work and inspiration.
Carbon reduction
Mission: cut EMEA office carbon footprint 20%.
Asked by the regional president of a global energy company to report on their Europe, Middle East and Africa HQ carbon footprint. I produced a baseline report of emissions and was backed to support a project team to act on the findings. Ongoing monitoring identified the changes we implemented more than doubled our goal, reducing emissions by 40% after 2 years.
Managing renewable intermittency
Mission: accelerate the world's transition to sustinable energy.
I led collaborative industry and academic research to inform corporate strategy and identify challenges with renewables integration in Ireland. This highlighted opportunities to improve system security, reduce costs £1.9m and emissions by 20 million kg of CO2 per year. The University of Reading awarded me TSBE Researcher of the Year for my analysis and strategic plan.
Steve Jobs
"The people who are crazy enough to think they'll change the world are the ones that do"
PUBLICATIONS
Recent media interviews and webinars are linked below, together with energy systems and energy modelling papers written over the course of my career. I was also a former contributor to Forbes here.
Media Mentions
Energizing MENA: Battery Energy Storage Solutions and Technological Advances | July 3 , 2024 | Renew Economy
Battery storage is about to overtake global capacity of pumped hydro | May 14, 2024 | Renew Economy
Batteries, Dominos & Exponential Mathematics | Febraury 16, 2024 | Oxford University
From start-up to scale-up: The future of energy storage solutions | May 10, 2023 | The Economist
Battery storage behind the scenes: What U.S. companies need to know | June 27, 2022 | Power Engineering
The Business Of Sustainability Forbes Under 30 Residency Panel | March 15, 2022 | Forbes
Leading the Charge: Connected Alumni Magazine | March 1, 2022 | Reading University
Gravity Could Solve Clean Energy’s One Major Drawback | January 4, 2022 | Wired
Piecing together the ‘jigsaw of value’ in UK energy storage | May 24, 2021 | Energy Storage News
Emerging energy storage use cases and factors driving utility adoption | March 5, 2021 | Smart Energy International
Piecing together the 'jigsaw of value' in UK energy storage | February 2021 | PV Tech
Fluence Hires Marek Kubik as MD of UK, Ireland and Israel | February 4, 2021 | Energy Storage Journal
The long read: Whipping up inertia | November 14, 2020 | PV Magazine
Interview with Marek Kubik, leading expert on Energy Storage | October 2020 | Clima Investments
Battery Storage to top out at 10 hours say webinar speakers | July 2, 2020 | ReTHINK
Energy Storage: Why the UK isn't going with the flow | June 12, 2020 | The Energyst
Pandemic Shows A Low Cabon Future In Dire Need Of Batteries | June 3, 2020 | Bloomberg
Energy in transition series: Battery storage | May 20, 2020 | Weightmans
No Subsidies Please, Says Europe’s Struggling Energy Storage Sector | March 5, 2020 | Greentech Media
Q&A: Fluence's Marek Kubik discusses Ultra-fast battery response for DS3 | February 24, 2020 | Energy Storage News
The Dawn of Megastorage | August 19, 2019 | Pv Magazine
The Top TED Talks on clean energy | April 15, 2019 | The Freeing Energy Project
5 Renewable Energy TED Talks to start your 2019 | January 4, 2019 | Forbes.com
Current± Predicts: The Energy Transition in 2019; Part One | December 17, 2018 | Current± News
Silver Bullets are for Werewolf Movies: Being Real About Energy Storage June 25, 2018 | Energy Storage News
Macedonia Energy Forum Live Stream #MEF2018MK | June 7, 2018
Fluence’s Marek Kubik on solar firming and decarbonisation with energy storage March 29, 2018 | Energy Storage News
Time's up for coal. Why renewables and storage will define our future January 22, 2018 | The World Economic Forum
Reading graduate recognised as one of energy industry's brightest talents March 17, 2017 | The University of Reading
Durham Engineering Graduate listed in prestigious 'Forbes 30 Under 30' March 16, 2017 | Durham University
Podcast: Grid-scale battery storage – the view from Europe, November 9, 2016 | Renew Economy (Australia)
Bottling the wind, November 1, 2014 | New Scientist (United States)
China's mythical coal habit is no excuse for climate inaction, October 8, 2014 | Business Spectator (Australia)
Fear of blackouts is no reason to restrict renewable energy, July 7, 2014 | Ecologist (United Kingdom)
Relying on renewables need not mean dealing with blackouts, July 4, 2014 | Conversation UK (Australia)
Europe must look to renewables to solve Ukraine gas crisis, April 29, 2014 | Blue & Green Tomorrow (United Kingdom)
Journal Papers
Brogan, P. V., Best, R., Morrow, J., Duncan R., Kubik, M.L, Stacking Battery Energy Storage Revenues with Enhanced Service Provision. IET Smart Grid June 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-stg.2018.0255
Brogan, P. V., Best, R., Morrow, J., McKinley, K., Kubik, M.L, Effect of BESS Response on Frequency and RoCoF During Under Frequency Transients. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. Vol 34: Issue 1. January 2019. DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2018.2862147.
Brogan, P. V., Best, R., Morrow, J.; Gharavi, H.; Kubik, M.L., Modelling optimisation and protection outcomes from distributed assets controlled to reduce a PMU based multi-objective cost function. The Journal of Engineering. October 2018. Vol: 2018, Issue 15. DOI: 10.1049/joe.2018.0241
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, C. Hunt. The role of conventional generation in managing variability. Energy Policy Journal. Volume 50, November 2012, Pages 253–261. DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.07.010
Kubik, M.L., D.J. Brayshaw, P.J. Coker and J. F. Barlow. Exploring the role of reanalysis data in simulating regional wind generation variability. Renewable Energy Journal. Volume 57, September 2013, Pages 558-561 . DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.02.012, 2013.
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, J.F. Barlow and C. Hunt. A study into the accuracy of using meteorological wind data to estimate turbine generation output. Renewable Energy Journal. Volume 51, March 2013, Pages 153-158. DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2012.08.084
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, and J.F. Barlow. Increasing thermal plant flexibility in a high renewables power system. Applied Energy Journal. Volume 154, September 2015, Pages 102-111. DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.04.063
Conference Papers
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker and C. Hunt. An overview of the current status of research into adopting high levels of renewables in Ireland. World Renewable Energy Congress XI Conference Proceedings. Elsevier. Abu Dhabi, 2010.
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker and C. Hunt. Adopting high levels of renewable electricity: an international perspective on approaches. 1st Annual TSBE EngD Conference Proceedings. Reading University, 2010.
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, C. Hunt. Using meteorological wind data to estimate turbine generation output: a sensitivity analysis. World Renewable Energy Congress 2011 Conference Proceedings. Elsevier. Linkoping University, Sweden, 2011.
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, C. Hunt and A.B Awbi. The impacts of renewable resource variability on conventional thermal generators. 2nd Annual TSBE EngD Conference Proceedings. Reading University, 2011.
Kubik, M.L., D.J. Brayshaw and P.J Coker. Reanalysis: An improved data set for simulating wind generation? World Renewable Energy Forum 2012 Conference Proceedings. Denver, USA, 2012.
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, M. Miller and J. F. Barlow. The value of reducing minimum stable generation for integrating wind energy. 3rd Annual TSBE EngD Conference Proceedings. Reading University, 2012.
Kubik, M.L., M. Miller and P.J. Coker. The impacts and proposed solutions to significant renewable resource variability in Northern Ireland. AES Innovation Congress. Indianapolis, USA, 2013.
Kubik, M.L., P.J. Coker, M. Miller and J. F. Barlow. Responding to the challenges of wind variability. 4th Annual TSBE EngD Conference Proceedings. Reading University, 2013.
P. Brogan, A.H. Alikhanzadeh, R. Best, J. Morrow, and M. L. Kubik, "Fast Frequency Response Requirements for Replacement of Observed Generator Response During Under Frequency Transients" 2017 Cigré | International Symposium, Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland, 2017.
P. Brogan, R. Best, J. Morrow, Gharavi, H. and M. L. Kubik , "Modelling Optimisation and Projection Outcomesfrom Distributed Assets Controlled to Reduce a PMU Based Multi-Objective Cost Function" IET DPSP, March 2018.
PDF
P. Brogan, R. Best, J. Morrow, C. Bradley, M. Rafferty and M. L. Kubik, "Triggering BESS Inertial Response with Synchronous Machine Measurements" 2018 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, August 5 - 10, Portland, USA.
R. Best, A.H. Alikhanzadeh, P. Brogan, J. Morrow, M. L. Kubik and B. Mongan, "Reactive Power Injection from Battery Energy Storage During Voltage Dips at a Thermal Power Plant" 2018 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, August 5 - 10, Portland, USA.
P. Brogan, R. Best, J. Morrow, A.H. Alikhanzadeh and M. L. Kubik , "Per Unit Displacement of Synchronous Inertia With BESS Synthetic Inertia Devices" 2019 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, August 4 - 8, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Thesis and Dissertation
Kubik, M.L., The impact of high levels of renewable generation on conventional fossil fuel based electricity markets. Doctoral Thesis, The University of Reading. October 2013.
Kubik, M.L., The Structural Analysis of Geodesic Domes. Engineering Masters Thesis, Durham University School of Engineering, April 2009.
John F Kennedy
"The problems of the world cannot possibly solved by sceptics or cynics. We need men that can dream of things that never were, and ask why not."