Transforming the energy future requires significant investment in emerging technologies and in the processes and services needed to bring new technologies to market. What’s the industry to do during these capital constrained times?

An accelerating momentum to transition to a sustainable energy infrastructure comes at a time when capital is becoming scarce and more expensive. The investments needed to build intelligent infrastructure are difficult to justify when current economic conditions and rising commodity prices are sapping customer and regulator willingness to fund utility projects. Yet there are significant growth opportunities in the energy industry.

Well capitalized technology companies are actively investing in energy business units and new entrants are finding venture capital for energy efficiency, innovative clean energy and energy storage technologies. The growth of investment in green tech is causing some concern that a potentially painful green tech bubble is developing in the utility industry.

Utilities also risk erosion of their customer base as new market players are changing the end-user relationship and in some cases, displacing utilities. Utilities can navigate the challenges by finding the right technology partners to facilitate market change.

A more detailed summary of the executive-level energy and utility industry dialog held at KEMA’s 2^nd annual Utility of the Future conference – including the Financial Perspectives panel – is available on-line and as a download at www.kema.com/utilityfuture2009.