ScottMadden Releases Energy Industry Update: “Complicated”
ScottMadden, Inc., releases its first full-length issue of the Energy Industry Update (EIU) for 2025. This publication is a cornerstone for strategic discussions, debates, and decisions among more than 10,000 executive leaders who rely on it for critical trends and insightful analysis.
Themed “Complicated,” this EIU examines how energy policy has undergone a dramatic shift, while utilities continue to accommodate large loads without incurring additional costs. AI grows as a force for both energy use and control, and mammoth capex needs grow larger in the face of challenges in the supply chain and labor pools.
Here are some of the highlights:
- AI and Energy – AI is dominating headlines—and it’s still in relative infancy. As AI adoption has grown, most attention in the energy industry has gone to the energy demands of AI itself. This focus will continue for the foreseeable future. Leading industry organizations, such as the Electric Power Research Institute, are driving research to harness AI’s full potential. We explore how AI may be reshaping energy and not just consuming it.
- Large Loads and Rates – The growth and expansion of large electrical loads in the United States and Canada continues. One analysis forecasts that data center growth could add 65 to 90 GW of power demand, with manufacturing adding a potential 20 GW. Utilities are exploring a range of options to ensure costs are borne by cost-causers and not shifted to other customers. We look at a few examples of tariff approaches that several utilities are taking to balance economic development with fairness across all customer classes.
- Flexible Resources – The North American grid is evolving with the integration of more solar and wind resources, growing electric demand and electrification, tighter reserve margins, and more seasonal variation in resource performance. Industry leaders are increasingly focusing on the notion of operating flexibility to ensure reliability and resilience. Utilities, system operators, and markets are responding in different ways. Some have begun developing incentives and markets for flexible capacity, and others are significantly expanding battery energy storage systems.
“We are at a pivotal moment marked by the convergence of challenges and opportunities presented by AI, increasing energy demand, and the proliferation of flexible generation resources. It will be critical that utilities are strategic in their tariff approaches and capital investments to ensure they are able to meet this to balance economic development and grow alongside their customers,” says Andy Flores, partner and energy practice leader at ScottMadden.
Read the full report here
Complimentary Energy Industry Update Webcast
We invite you to join ScottMadden’s complimentary webcast, “ScottMadden’s Energy Industry Update: Complicated,” on September 17, where our energy experts will share their insights and address questions related to these topics and more. Kevin Hernandez, a partner with ScottMadden, will serve as webcast moderator. Register for this webcast here.