Energy Companies Must Evolve to Navigate Global Energy Transformation

The energy industry landscape has been facing dramatic changes. Guidehouse’s 2021 State and Future of the Power Industry report surveyed industry stakeholders on key trends and the top issues facing energy companies as they navigate the global energy industry transformation. The results showed that these challenges are ever-evolving.

In an article for Western Energy, Brett Feldman, research director at Guidehouse Insights, discusses how the unprecedented events of 2020 and 2021—from extreme weather conditions to one of the largest cyberattacks on utility infrastructure to dramatic changes in consumer energy consumption due to pandemic-related changes in work patterns—accelerated resilience planning. 

“Energy companies are feeling pressure to keep up and deliver,” explained Feldman. “To adapt and succeed in this changing landscape, the tools and models historically used by these companies must also evolve.”

Despite all the challenges of the past couple of years, energy companies continue to address these concerns and evolve. Survey respondents reported focusing on opportunities like electrification and the proliferation of distributed energy resources and clean power, as well as considering ways to address key challenges, including extreme weather resiliency and utility regulation rigidity. 

“Given the complexity of disruption across the industry, energy executives need to remain flexible and vigilant as they navigate an increasingly clean, distributed, mobile and digitalized future,” said Feldman.