Energy & Utilities

A defining challenge for the 21st century is providing sufficient supplies of sustainable energy to meet surging energy demands. 

A revolution in energy technologies is needed to ensure that the global energy supply meets demands while also solving the challenges of climate change. No company can begin to meet these challenges without an integrated strategy that includes greater investments in energy R&D; new policies that put a price on carbon emissions and remove barriers to private sector energy innovation; and new types of public/private partnerships, institutions, and international cooperation.

Energy companies need to shift their focus toward long-term business stewardship and strategic positioning, with significant enhancement of skills to support strategic versus operational roles. Put simply, the management model needs to mature beyond the short-term operations or regulator-focused models prevalent today. Senior executives must understand the interactions among emerging market drivers and their potential impact on the company. For example, they will need new asset management capabilities to respond to the increasing intelligence available within today’s electric system and the vast insight it can offer about network performance and condition.

Maturing smart grid and demand response systems and the integration of renewable generation systems require electric distribution networks to use more computational, control and communications technologies. The skills and experience required to manage these more complex and dynamic systems are very different from managing “one-way” systems characterised by a high level of redundancy to ensure reliability.

An industry once known for its predictability has become much more dynamic and demanding. Deregulation has created intense pressure on utility companies to cut costs and find new opportunities for growth. They can now choose from an array of strategies and operating models. Whatever approach they take, success depends on putting in place the right processes, management practices and supporting technologies to drive out costs and create an agile and responsive organisation.

Oil

Gas and electricity

Utilities