Electric & Gas Utilities

Electric & Gas Utilities is a segment of SDG's largest industry practice, Energy and Environment. Our power clients represent more than three quarters of the total electricity generated and consumed in the United States. We serve leading Japanese power and gas utilities and several of the largest European utilities as well.

Our services to energy companies include strategy development, enterprise risk management, nuclear investment value and risk assessment, business and asset portfolio management, asset valuation, resource allocation, and price forecasting. Most recently, our predominant work with power generation companies has been environmental strategy. Examples of our expertise in the utility sector include:

• Enterprise Risk Management – SDG supports leading companies in energy and other industries in assessing the value and risk inherent in their businesses and in devising strategies for increasing value and minimizing risk in their portfolios. SDG played a formative role in the creation of the energy industry's Committee of Chief Risk Officers, developing best practices in the management of risk. More on Enterprise Risk Management.
• Generation Portfolio Strategy – SDG works with the owners of the largest generation fleets in the Unites States as they make strategic decisions on asset investments, acquisitions, divestitures, and retrofitting, and as they address uncertainties arising from energy market prices, fuel supply and price risks, environmental regulation (GHG and other pollutants), and other regulatory changes.
• Renewable Energy – The Energy & Environment team works iwth clients ont heir most critical strategic challenges in the uncertainmarket for renewable energy. We help utilities evaluate how best to achieve the goals set by renewable portfolio standards. For one of the world's largest manufacturers of photovoltaic generation, we recently evaluated the current and future US market for green distributed generation and storage adn developed the company's technology strategy. More on Renewable Energy.
• Energy System of the Future – SDG is a trusted industry resource when it comes to evaluating the potential impact of emerging technologies and changing market needs on the energy system of the future. For our clients, we have evaluated the commercial prospects of distributed resources, energy efficiency, smart grid, and other emerging technologies. In a current multiclient effort, we are employing a scenario-based approach to evaluating environmental and technology drivers impacting consumer electricity delivery, including advanced distributed power systems and other technologies that address the needs of a carbon-constrained, digital society. We are evaluating potential strategic responses to these scenarios for key stakeholders and developing insights about strategic actions that need to be taken in the near term, downstream decisions, contingency signposts, and potential tipping points.
• Nuclear Renaissance – SDG is at the forefront of the nuclear renaissance and is supporting several developers of new nuclear plants in determining strategy and risk management for these massive investments. SDG has conducted value-and-risk assessments for more than half of the steam generator replaclements in the US nuclear industry. More on the Nuclear Industry.

For two years, SDG played a key role in the Galvin Electricity Initiative, privately funded by former Motorola chairman, Robert Galvin. SDG facilitated several workshops with more than 100 experts who addressed future consumer needs and alternative power system configurations and technologies. SDG developed assessment tools and led interviews of leading technology experts and entrepreneurs to evaluate new technologies and market prospects, breakthrough-level investment requirements, legal and regulatory barriers, and timing.