In an increasingly decarbonizing world, the U.S. electric industry is transforming itself as the growth of renewable energy and evolving distributed energy use are forcing utilities to find ways to accommodate new sources of power. Power-disrupting weather events and wildfires propelled by climate change are also testing the resilience of the aging power infrastructure in need of modernizing. Investment and regulatory uncertainties only add to the sector’s headwinds.
Black & Veatch’s new Electric Report details such complexities and the path forward, drawing upon expert analysis of responses to a survey of roughly 250 U.S. power sector stakeholders. Against the backdrop of this week’s yearly Climate Week conference in New York City, the report details an industry tasked with bolstering its reliability in a rapidly evolving “new energy” ecosystem driven by cleaner, more environmentally friendly power sources. Electricity drawn from the sun and wind is le