Energy Strategy

In the face of slower growth, rapidly changing technologies, and policy and market uncertainties, modern businesses in developed markets must consider alternative business models and improved execution to deliver strong economic growth to shareholders. Our team works with major energy, industrial, and chemical companies to develop coherent corporate strategies, integrating industry trends to meet the company’s unique growth, value, and risk requirements.

Our team offers support for system operators, regulators, and market participants developing market rules that address the risks, opportunities, and cost-benefit tradeoffs related to grid modernization. An example in the last few years, distributed energy resources (DER) have grown in scale, capability, and use across the US. Utilities must now account for DER growth in all major decisions, from IRPs to grid modernization plans that stay ahead of both regulatory and customer trends. CRA uses robust in-house models to project long-term DER penetration from the bottom up and offer detailed insights into how increased DER penetration will impact major investment and resource planning decisions.

Our experts help financial and strategic investors identify investment opportunities in markets where they have limited experience. CRA has advised clients on investments in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Support has included developing market entry strategies and related due diligence around various asset classes, including natural gas midstream and LDCs, electric utilities, power generation, and electric transmission.

In the face of immense industry change, many utilities are now undertaking the largest capital project investments of their time. Given the scale of such projects, utilities must ensure that their capital allocation plans meet a complex and often competing set of objectives around reliability, risk, cost, and returns. Our team uses flexible, robust frameworks and powerful in-house models to uniquely view allocation decisions through the lens of the customer, regulator, and shareholder. Our work is relied upon by utility executives to inform both business and regulatory strategy.