I know you've already seen that regulation, energy sources, customer choice and technology all interplay and ultimately impact you and me as customers in the previous articles. We know that everything that has happened in the 100-year history of this industry has brought us to where we are today. But what's ahead for the next 20? 10, or even just 5 years? No one can be totally sure, but the decisions made today will definitely impact the future of this industry. And why should we care? You shouldn't, unless, of course, you're among the billions who use electricity or benefit from something that is produced by electricity which, as you can guess, is like the all of us. In this final module, we're going to pull together what you've learned and talk about some of the most pressing issues going on in the industry today. Even industry insiders, sitting on the same side of the table, may not necessarily agree on what makes for the right approach. Throughout this module I'm going to reference a study conducted by utility dive, called the State of the Electric Utility Survey. The results of this survey are pretty telling since it was conducted with more than 500 electric utility executives. It covered topics ranging from what they worry about and what they see as good solutions.
The biggest challenges they face is the aging workforce, which is because baby-boomers are now reaching retirement age. They also worry about the existing utility regulatory model, given the market shifts. Aging infrastructure also tops the list, since it can impact reliability. It's not gloom and doom though. Executives remain positive about their utility's ability to add more value. They see energy management and efficiency services, community solar, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure as some of really high-potential areas. Green pricing programs and rooftop solar were also considered some really great opportunities. Not surprisingly, given the value-add utilities want to offer, executives are also pursuing large-scale renewables, demand-side management, distributed
generation, and natural gas power plants.
They also see energy storage being added to this list. Given where they said they want to add value, they do predict a shift in generation resources, with a much greater focus on large-scale renewables, distributed generation, and natural gas. They believe nuclear will remain flat and coal and oil will decline. Large-scale solar and distributed generation they believe will outpace wind and natural gas, but they also can see that integrating renewables and keeping cost down for consumers won't be all that easy.
In the next articles and modules, I'm really going to put your brains to work. You have enough background that, like industry experts, you too can have an informed opinion about what could and
what should happen in this industry. With that, in this module, let's jump with two-feet into the good stuff.
The biggest challenges they face is the aging workforce, which is because baby-boomers are now reaching retirement age. They also worry about the existing utility regulatory model, given the market shifts. Aging infrastructure also tops the list, since it can impact reliability. It's not gloom and doom though. Executives remain positive about their utility's ability to add more value. They see energy management and efficiency services, community solar, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure as some of really high-potential areas. Green pricing programs and rooftop solar were also considered some really great opportunities. Not surprisingly, given the value-add utilities want to offer, executives are also pursuing large-scale renewables, demand-side management, distributed
generation, and natural gas power plants.
They also see energy storage being added to this list. Given where they said they want to add value, they do predict a shift in generation resources, with a much greater focus on large-scale renewables, distributed generation, and natural gas. They believe nuclear will remain flat and coal and oil will decline. Large-scale solar and distributed generation they believe will outpace wind and natural gas, but they also can see that integrating renewables and keeping cost down for consumers won't be all that easy.
In the next articles and modules, I'm really going to put your brains to work. You have enough background that, like industry experts, you too can have an informed opinion about what could and
what should happen in this industry. With that, in this module, let's jump with two-feet into the good stuff.
0 comments:
Post a Comment