Black & Veatch Releases Results Of 2008 U.S. Electric Utilities Survey
Black & Veatch, a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company, recently released the results of its third annual "Strategic Directions in the Electric Utility Industry" survey showing system reliability, aging workforce and infrastructure among the top concerns.
The 2008 report identifies issues and concerns on the minds of U.S. power industry leaders. Also, this year's survey includes a detailed look at the acceptance and implementation plans for demand-side management and energy-efficiency programs.
"The survey results reflect the realities and concerns within today's electric utilities industry," said Richard Rudden, Senior Vice President in Black & Veatch's Enterprise Management Solutions Division, and the executive sponsor for the survey. "The results show that the industry continues to be most concerned about system reliability, the aging work force and infrastructure, environment, and fuel policy."
In this year's survey, fuel policy rose into the top five as a concern, up from eighth place last year. Also, this year's results demonstrated a rapidly growing degree of emphasis on renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar.
"The survey was conducted this summer, just before the credit crisis. If we had conducted it a month or two later, I'm reasonably sure that ‘long-term investment' would have been high on the rankings, particularly among our municipal utility respondents," said Rudden. "At the time of this year's survey, respondents ranked financing number seven out of ten in level of concern."
This year, as in past surveys, nuclear power was regarded as the preferred technology for meeting future base load power needs. "Coal gasification seems to have lost the most ground according to the survey," said Rudden. "Decreasing government interest in this technology and escalating capital costs could be the reasons."
"Some of the most interesting results pertained to climate change and related legislation," Rudden added. "In 2008, respondents were more reserved than in 2007 about the likelihood of greenhouse gas legislation being passed by 2011 or 2012."
Last year, 72 percent of respondents believed that legislation would be passed by 2011 or 2012. This year, only 58 percent believed this would occur. The survey also found that only a third of all respondents had a significant degree of confidence in the science underlying climate change policy.
"Part of this may be related to concerns over implementation and compliance costs, while another aspect could be concerns about the economy and federal deficit," Rudden observed. "Not only were more respondents concerned about the level of costs, but also skeptical these costs could be readily recovered in utility rates."
The full survey can be accessed at: www.bv.com/strategicdirectionssurvey.
About Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, telecommunications, management consulting, federal and environmental markets. Founded in 1915, Black & Veatch develops tailored infrastructure solutions that meet clients' needs and provide sustainable benefits. Solutions are provided from the broad line of service expertise available within Black & Veatch, including conceptual and preliminary engineering services, engineering design, procurement, construction, financial management, asset management, program management, construction management, environmental, security design and consulting, management consulting and infrastructure planning. With $3.2B in revenue, the employee-owned company has more than 100 offices worldwide and has completed projects in more than 100 countries on six continents. The company's Web site address is www.bv.com.
Enterprise Management Solutions (EMS) is the management consulting division of Black & Veatch. EMS provides tailored strategic, process and technology solutions to deliver improved operations, cost savings, new revenue streams and greater customer loyalty. For more information on EMS, go to www.bv.com/consult.
SOURCE: Black & Veatch