Energy Management is becoming a growing component of business strategy, with half of industrial companies surveyed in the Deloitte Resources 2020 Study reporting incorporating energy management at the corporate strategy level. Industrial companies are looking more closely at their energy profiles to identify opportunities for cost reduction, decarbonization, and resilience. They are increasingly adopting energy management technologies and considering onsite resources, such as renewable energy and energy storage. Many are participating in current utility programs to achieve energy management goals and some see further opportunities in the more interactive electric utility and market programs that are developing.
For electricity providers, the opportunities involve potential revenue generation from the installation and maintenance of new services, such as solar power, energy storage and resiliency solutions, and potential value from customer-owned resources used for peak shaving, grid balancing, and deferring capital spending on grid infrastructure.
This article highlights the following key elements:
• The opportunities that exist for industrial companies and electricity providers to benefit from adoption of energy management, clean energy technologies, and closer interaction with electric utilities and the electric grid
• The market forecast for the next decade, including which US regions will likely see greater growth in these offerings
• Implementation strategies, including examples of early case studies and some promising technologies entering the market
• The challenges that both sides are addressing as they increasingly work together on these solutions