Adapting to a changing landscape with fuel cell technology

In the last few months, the world has seen significant changes – new heads of state in several countries; the Brexit vote; shocking terrorist attacks and cybercrime of international proportions.

Why do I mention these things? Because they all have an impact on our utilities markets and demonstrate how integral our industry is to the health of our nations.

Due to strict regulation in many countries, utilities have been required to invest heavily in their operations at a time when electricity sales are generally flat or in decline. That’s not to suggest that these utilities aren’t profitable, but it does add an additional layer of complexity to their businesses.

In North America for instance, former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan saw considerable amounts of money spent on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. There was also additional pressure placed on utilities to meet a new set of governmental standards, but with President Donald Trump’s recent decision to remove the US from the Paris climate agreement, the impact of this decision is not yet clear.

Add these challenges to more fundamental initiatives to upgrade and better balance the grid, utility businesses of 2017 have significant challenges to meet. What’s more, the introduction of smart meters and a new consumer awareness to energy consumption has led many leading utility companies to investigate new innovative technologies to reduce their carbon footprint.