Apr 29, 2016

ScottMadden Releases Latest Edition of the Semi-Annual Energy Industry Update

ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America’s leading energy consulting firms, recently released The Energy Industry Update. This highly anticipated semi-annual report will give you bottom-line insights, distill recent events, and help you as you prepare for emerging trends.
 
Themed “Neither Fish nor Fowl,” this Update examines a broad array of strategic issues like the energy transitions in Texas and Hawaii, the role of a utility, and cybersecurity:
  • Energy Transitions in Texas and Hawaii – How is the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs), particularly solar photovoltaic resources, affecting the traditional electric utility business model and operations? How can utilities anticipate and respond to evolving customer interest in DERs? Hawaii has been called a “Postcard from the Future.” What can we learn from their experience? How are municipal and cooperative utilities in Texas demonstrating how utilities might encourage measured development of DERs? We will discuss what is happening on the ground in these states, based on our recent fact-finding trips with senior utility executives.
  • What Is a Utility? – How can traditional utility functions be usurped by non-traditional approaches such as community solar, microgrids, and third-party solar leasing? What are the traditional functions of the utility? What can happen to them? What are the potential implications for customers and the utility business more broadly?
  • Cybersecurity with IT/OT Convergence – How are recent developments changing the management of traditionally separate Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) assets? What are the cybersecurity challenges associated with a more converged model, and are they slowing the progress toward IT/OT convergence? What are successful companies doing to address these challenges?
“The utility landscape is evolving. New technologies like storage and distributed solar are growing in interest. New players are playing a larger role in the grid. Many of the traditional roles of the regulated utility are affected, as well as traditional regulatory boundaries between retail and wholesale and energy and environment,” said Greg Litra, partner and energy, clean tech, and sustainability research leader at ScottMadden. “Our theme, ‘Neither Fish nor Fowl,’ is a way to describe some of this blurriness in an industry that juxtaposes elements both new and old.”
 
For more than a decade, the ScottMadden Energy Industry Update has served as the catalyst for strategic discussion, debate, and decisions. More than 10,000 executive leaders rely on it for the most important trends and thought-provoking insights.
 
ScottMadden, Inc.