To transform from commodity power suppliers to innovative service providers, utilities must lead an emerging ecosystem that facilitates revenue decoupling, renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio standards.
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Building a Thriving and Extended Utilities Value Chain
1. • Cognizant 20-20 Insights
Building a Thriving and Extended
Utilities Value Chain
To transform from commodity power suppliers to innovative service
providers, utilities must lead an emerging ecosystem that facilitates
revenue decoupling, renewable energy and energy efficiency
portfolio standards.
Executive Summary Meeting these demands and turning these
challenges into opportunities requires a complete
The U.S. electric power sector stands at a
transformation of the traditional electric utility
crossroads, as numerous factors, both internal
business model. So while delivering safe and
and external, challenge the traditional operating
reliable electricity will always form the bedrock of
model. The utilities industry has remained
operations, the modern utility must now expand
unchanged for years, and for good reason:
its vision and adapt to changing circumstances
Business has remained extremely stable, predict-
to deliver energy sustainably to customers and
able and insulated from most external macro-
generate value for shareholders.
economic events. Today, however, utilities face
an array of challenges and opportunities amid
Traditional Business Imperatives
a rapidly evolving information- and technology-
driven environment. New approaches to serving Traditionally, the utilities business model has
customers by using less energy, cleaner energy revolved around the following four pillars (see
and emerging technologies are taking hold, and Figure 1, next page).
at the same time, tried-and-true business-as- • Grid security and service reliability: An
usual approaches have become more expensive, electric grid has often been described as the
complicated and risky. world’s largest machine. Utilities perform the
gargantuan task of managing this complex
The challenges are unprecedented. The tradi- system every second of the day.
tional goals of safety, efficiency and reliabil-
ity have become even more important to attain, • Customer service: Serving customers is the
even while new global environmental issues arise, foundation of the business, and in this heavily
including climate change and national security regulated industry, managing high levels of
concerns regarding foreign energy dependence. customer service is a tough task.
Meanwhile, future-thinking utilities must also • Environmental responsibility: With 50% of
support a growing desire by customers to have the nation’s electricity needs still relying on
greater control over their energy use to reduce coal as fuel, utilities have a major role to play in
costs and decrease their environmental impact. the environmental discussion.
cognizant 20-20 insights | march 2013
2. Utilities’ Traditional the U.S., responsible for approximately 40% of
total emissions (see Figure 2).1
Business Imperatives
• Projected growth in electricity needs.
Demand for electricity is projected to grow
Demand Response
by about 30% in 2035 over 2005 levels.2
Reliability/Security
Most states in the U.S. support climate/clean
energy policies, and federal action is likely in
the near term that will further increase restric-
tions on fossil-fuel-based electricity generation
(see Figure 3, next page). Japan’s March 2011
Customer
Managing Investments
Satisfaction nuclear catastrophe raises further questions
about the viability of nuclear generation as a
sustainable clean generation source. Today’s
utilities face significant challenges, from
reducing dependency on fossil fuel and severely
Environmental constrained capital expenditures, through
Responsibility
heightened security requirements. This means
relying on technology to optimize operations
(such as the smart grid) and increasing col-
Figure 1 laboration with fellow utilities and technology
providers to identify and develop alternative
• Managing investments: Utilities are among viable energy sources.
the most asset-intensive of all businesses,
making it critical to maintain asset availabil-
• Continued declines in production costs for
renewable energy technologies.
ity, increase asset productivity and enable a
stronger return on investment. • Growing support and uptake of regulatory
policies to allow utilities to utilize large-scale
Several significant and persistent trends are influ- energy efficiency as the lowest-cost energy
encing and challenging the traditional utilities resource.
business model. Some of the most prominent
ones include: • Implementation of smart grid technologies
that offer utilities and their customers the
• The imperative to reduce greenhouse gas information and tools to better manage elec-
(GHG) emissions upwards of 80% by 2050. tricity usage.
The electric power sector is the largest single
source of global carbon dioxide emissions in
• Growing interest and activity in the develop-
ment of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs).
Assumed Economy-wide CO2 Reduction Target
Historical
emissions
7
2005 = 5,982 mmT CO2
6
2012 = 3% below 2005
(5,803 mmT CO2)
5
2020 = 17% below 2005
Billion tons CO2
(4,965 mmT CO2)
4
Remainder
of U.S.
Economy 2030 = 42% below 2005
3 (3,470 mmT CO2)
2
U.S. Electric 2050 = 83% below 2005
1 Sector (1,017 mmT CO2)
0
1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050
Figure 2
2
80% CO2 reduction by 2050
3. • Increasing recognition of domestic natural Traditionally, utilities have tended to develop
gas as a resource that is less carbon intensive business-technology capabilities in-house. Con-
than other fossil fuels for large-scale electric- sidering today’s uncertain economy and the vast
ity generation, complementary to renewable challenges they face, utilities need to rethink
energy resources and domestically abundant. their core operating assumptions. Given the con-
siderable capital and skills requirements needed
A utility that deals effectively with these trends
to modernize their business,
will be better positioned to succeed in both the
utilities need to question the Solving these
short and long terms. Further, such a utility is also
viability of relying solely on
more likely to provide better value to its customers
in-house capabilities to build
challenges will require
all the new required capa- close collaboration
and earn stronger returns for investors.
The far-reaching impact of these issues makes bilities vs. leveraging external among customers,
skill sets that are proprietary
them more than just a utilities-only problem;
in nature. Finding the best
technologists,
solving these challenges will require close collabo-
ration among customers, technologists, research- solution will be a delicate bal- researchers and
ers and academia, as well as supportive regulatory ancing act. academia, as well as
policies that facilitate revenue decoupling,
Before delving into under- supportive regulatory
renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio
standards. The need exists for an ecosystem — an
standing the solution, it is policies that facilitate
extended value chain — in which all stakehold-
important to understand some
revenue decoupling,
of the structural changes
ers can thrive. Such an ecosystem will further
happening in the industry renewable energy
support the ongoing transformation of utilities
from simple, regimented, centralized brokers of
that flow directly from the and energy efficiency
commodity electric power to complex, diversified,
creation of an extended value
portfolio standards.
chain.
innovative service providers equipped to face the
future. The Extended Value Chain
This necessary transformation brings into focus As a form of energy, electricity offers diverse
the important consideration of how utilities can uses and has thus spawned numerous specialty
create an ecosystem that optimizes expenditures, industry sectors, with far-reaching downstream
leverages the best skills and technologies and impacts (i.e., GHG emissions). As a result,
enables the realization of key business impera- extracting efficiency from the energy value chain
tives. now requires a holistic strategy that connects
downstream and upstream sub-functions. Several
Electricity Demand Projection
6,000
5,000
Billion kilowatt hours
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035
Historical Projected*
* Electricity demand projections based on expected growth between 2006 and 2035
Figure 3
cognizant 20-20 insights 3
4. Utilities Extended Value Chain
Utilities Value Chain Extended Value Chain
Energy Control Center EV and Transportation
Upstream
Infrastructure
Interconnection
Energy Management,
Demand Curtailment
Power Plant/
Substation Power Plant/ Carbon Cap & Trade
Substation
Interconnection Energy Storage
Downstream
Distribution Distributed
System Generation
Clean Tech
Distribution System Distribution System
Smart Grid
Figure 4
specialized business sectors are expanding the • Reliability: An increase in the reliability of the
ability and purpose of the traditional value chain, electrical system through automatic outage
such as: notification, accelerated service restoration
and improved grid asset management.
• Electronvolt (EV) and transportation infra-
structure: EV, battery switch, charging • Environmental benefits: Reduced emissions
technology and other EV transportation infra- through enhanced grid efficiency and less need
structure providers. to build new generation, transmission and dis-
tribution facilities through increased system
• Energy management and demand curtail-
load factor and reduced peak demand.
ment: Demand-side management (DSM) and
load management solutions. • Energy information marketplace: Increased
commercial benefits by encouraging the devel-
• Carbon cap and trade: Exchanges, traders, etc. opment of a new energy information market-
• Energy storage: Battery, flow battery, CAES, place that will provide the tools and services
flywheel, ultra capacitors.3 that consumers need to understand and
• Distributed generation: Individually owned manage their energy use.
generation and grid integrators.
Structural Changes Enabling the
• Clean tech: Solar, bio fuels, fuel cells. Extended Value Chain
Thus, the traditional value chain with upstream It has never been more dire for our society to
and downstream functions makes the extended focus on extracting as much efficiency as possible
value chain a reality (see Figure 4). from existing electricity infrastructure invest-
ments. For most utilities, this means increasing
The smart grid has a key role to play as a value-
efficiency in generation, on the grid and also
chain integrator in the extended value chain. The
at the end-user level, while addressing the
likely benefits of extended value chain integration
challenges posed by these mandates. To remain
include:
competitive, utilities must respond to the risks
• Granular consumption data: More efficient and opportunities presented by diverse and often
real-time energy management through the conflicting objectives, such as the need to address
smart grid, as well as the development and climate change, carbon costs, fuel price volatility,
use of more energy-efficient appliances, thus emerging clean technologies, energy efficiency
reducing peak energy usage by moving less programs, customer expectations and competing
critical activities to non-peak times. third-party energy providers. Responding to
cognizant 20-20 insights 4
5. Traditional vs. Forward-Thinking Utilities
Utility That Recognizes the
Factor Traditional Utility
Extended Value Chain
Simple, based on steadily increasing elec- Complex, integrated energy services serving
Business tricity sales, typically from an expanding diverse and evolving customer needs with an
Model asset base of centralized generation and information-enabled infrastructure.
traditional delivery infrastructure.*
Services Regimented commodized services. Diversified, innovative service provider.
Increasing. Flattening (on a normalized base) with
Electricity
a potential decline, exception being the
Demand deployment of new electric vehicles.**
Capacity Average cost of new capacity stable or Average cost of new capacity increasing. ***
Cost declining.
Utility Reliability, customer service, affordability Reliability, environmental quality, service quality,
Objectives (low rates), returns to shareholders.**** affordability (low bills), returns to shareholders.
Passive Active, equipped with technology and incentives
Role of
to manage energy consumption and generate
Consumer energy.
* Although new technologies have been introduced, long equipment lifecycles, standardization and aversion to risk have tended to
limit the implementation of innovative transmission and distribution system technology.
** New energy services, such as powering electric vehicles, may increase demand, but the net impact is currently unclear.
*** The cost of new capacity will be partially offset as low carbon-generating resources become commercially mature.
**** Investor-owned utilities, in addition to managing costs, have the goal of earning market-based returns for shareholders, while
publicly owned utilities have the goal of minimizing cost for members.
Figure 5
these challenges will require new core competen-
Investments in Green Technologies cies and a remake of the industry’s value chain.
As stated previously, utilities cannot do this all
10,000 alone. To succeed, they need to recognize and
manage the emerging extended value chain.
9,000
Figure 5 depicts how a utility that recognizes the
8,000 extended value chain will differ from one that
7,000
does not.
Millions ($)
6,000 Thus, successful utilities will continue to own
5,000
customers and their consumption, while new
services and products will enable them to effi-
4,000
ciently serve customers by successfully evolving
3,000 and integrating new business capabilities into the
extended value chain. This will create a single-
2,000
channel delivery mechanism for all customer
1,000 needs.4
0
Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 The Skill Set/Specialization Landscape
Investment The urgency of the challenges facing the utilities
($M) $714 $899 $1,700 $1,800 $2,500 $3,600 $5,180 $10,000
industry has resulted in increased attention
from investors and the research community (see
Figure 6 Figure 6). A tremendous amount of investment
cognizant 20-20 insights 5
6. The Evolving Energy Specialization Industry
• EnerNOC: Software and services facilitate • GE Lighting’s ESCO: Energy services program.
reduced demand and act as an intermediary
between customers and utilities.
• Earth Aid: Home energy management.
• Better Place: Transportation infrastructure,
• Comverge: DSM software. battery switch stations.
• Opower: SaaS company that licenses its • Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc.: Energy
software to utilities, creating reports on energy curtailment.
consumption analysis, with recommendations
that customers can use to lower consumption • ConsumerPowerLine: Energy management, DSM.
Partners with Honeywell. • EnergyHub: Home energy management, SaaS
platform.
• Tendril: Energy management technology
provider, similar to EnerNOC. • Ecobee: Wi-Fi-enabled programmable thermo-
stats.
• Coulomb Technologies: Charging station
provider; has partnered with Ford Motor Co.
Figure 7
and cutting-edge research has resulted in the Regulatory Changes Amid the New
rapid development of upstream and downstream Specialization Landscape
technology specializations (see Figure 7). The regulatory environment may not be able
to support the emerging extended value chain;
Investments from outside the traditional
however, it is widely anticipated that regula-
utilities sector are pivoting around how energy
tions will evolve as the industry changes and
is generated, transmitted and consumed —
will encourage energy independence, renewable
something that any utility can make extensive
energy and energy efficiency. These policies,
use of.
which fall within the purview of state governments
Figure 8 provides an overview of the specializa- and utility regulatory commissions, include:
tion landscape that is emerging in the extended • Clean energy policies: Set an overall direction
industry value chain. This is expected to evolve to align clean energy goals across different
and mature as additional research is conducted government agencies, state and federal
and investments are made. regulators and public service commissions and
Utilities Industry Expansion
Extended Value Chain
Specialization Landscape
Elements
Electric Vehicles Electric Battery Charging EV Hazardous
and Transportation Vehicles Technology Technology Transportation Waste
Infrastructure Infrastructure Management
Energy Management and Energy Home Energy Load Load Curtailment
Demand Curtailment Efficiency Management Management Programs
Energy Storage Battery Capacitor
Individually
Owned
Distributed Generation
Generation Grid
Integrators
Clean Tech Solar Fuel Cells Bio Fuels
Smart Grid
Figure 8
cognizant 20-20 insights 6
7. drive changes that increase commitment to • Discovery: In this stage, the ecosystem’s
clean energy resources. strategic intent is defined. After understanding
the need, a situational analysis of the organi-
• Renewable portfolio standards: Incentiv-
zation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
ize compliance both at the consumption and
and threats (SWOT analysis) is conducted,
generation stages and reward those parties
and critical industry issues are raised. Finally,
that deliver results.
an external analysis — an assessment of the
• Revenue decoupling: Create an innovative evolution of the extended value chain — is
policy framework that removes utilities’ undertaken, noting that the ecosystem will
inherent disincentive for implementing large- evolve over time. This will give the utility an
scale energy efficiency frameworks. idea of the role and the degree of influence it
• Effectivenet metering: Promote and incen- has in creating the ecosystem.
tivize distributed generation to facilitate Any gap that exists between a utility’s strategic
consumer investment in on-site renewable intent, the strengths revealed through the
energy generation. SWOT analysis and the capabilities to be
• Incentive rate-making: Encourage long-term built into the extended value chain can be
“right” investments by making provisions for evaluated on the basis of the utility’s ability to
premium returns. deliver against these goals and its impact on
the business. Additional aspects to consider
• Carbon footprint policies: Set policies that
include:
incentivize customers and utilities to reduce
their carbon footprints.
>> Developing an ecosystem hierarchy, in-
cluding creation of categories, roles and
A Strategic Framework for Assessing protocols.
the Extended Value Chain
How can a utility successfully build an ecosystem >> Defining the extended value chain com-
ponents that must be considered as a part
that uses the best industry elements? An
of the utility’s business.
integrated utility is in the best position to nurture
this ecosystem and mentor partners to provide >> Defining the relative importance of the
the highest levels of customer service. For this new extended value chain components to
to happen, key questions must be considered, the utility’s business.
including:
• Formulation: This stage involves the
• How can utilities design/build this ecosystem production of a clear set of recommenda-
and weave it into their business strategy? tions, with supporting justification and supply
• How can they monetize their considerable strategies for accomplishing them. These
investment to make this ecosystem possible? findings lead into the prism assessment (see
(Utilities’ investments in the extended Figure 9, next page).
value chain are said to exceed that of other
members.) Regulators will play a defining role, The prism helps utilities assess their unique
without question. capabilities, such as “ability to deliver,” which
is the ability to deliver extended value chain
• How does the ecosystem create standards and benefits. It also ranks external extended value
policies (with support of regulators) that enable chain members in categories such as “partici-
its members to operate without conflicts? pate, guide and mentor” in relation to utilities’
• How can utilities ensure these efforts result in capabilities. This framework serves as a
value to stakeholders? guideline for defining the in-house capabilities
to be built, areas for collaboration and capabili-
• How can utilities develop strong internal capa- ties that are core to the utility’s business and
bilities, while leveraging the key capabilities of
extended value chain members to maximize should stay in-house.
value to stakeholders? • Implementation: This stage is based on the
amount of “autonomy” a utility wants to build
We have developed an extended value chain
into the ecosystem. Accordingly, there are
framework that distills ecosystem development
three approaches that can be followed.
into a three-stage activity, comprising discovery,
formulation and implementation phases.
cognizant 20-20 insights 7
8. Extended Value Chain Prism Model
St
ra
te
Ecosystem Member Involvement
gi
c
In
te
Mentor nt
Ecosystem Hierarchy
Guide
Participant
n* ples Low
&
EV ortatio xam
e*
as e rag
ent
ed nsp Sto Tra eliver
s rgy
*Pre Ext Ene SM* to D
Str end &D lity
Low
ate
gic
ed
V EM ted
ribu n*
Abi
Imp alue Dist eratio h ncie
s
Op ort Cha Gen * Hi g pet
e
era an ech
tion ce t in Ele an T eC
om
s o me Cle Bus nts Cor
ine
ss
Hig Technology Services
h
Thought Solution
Figure 9
Approach 1: Here, a utility creates an open anyone with an idea can be a part of the
playground for collaboration and innovation ecosystem, comply with the legal and commercial
among technology, solution and service providers framework, partner with the ecosystem members
by extending access to its data within a legal and and build an industry-leading solution.
mutually acceptable commercial framework (see
Figure 10). The most important aspect of this There are several positive upsides to such an
ecosystem is controlled and restricted access ecosystem:
to data and the safeguarding of the utility’s • It offers high incentives for stakeholders,
privacy concerns and business interests. There utilities and customers.
are regulatory challenges and privacy concerns
regarding access to customer consumption data.5 • The utility maintains control over and governs
the ecosystem.
It is important to build “openness” into the • Potential exists for large-scale innovation.
ecosystem that fosters innovation. This means
• The utility remains on the front end.
Approach 1: Open Innovation
Customer
External Stakeholders
Utility Customer Interaction Channels
Alternate
Internet/Paging
Network/RF Energy Sources
Access to infrastructure
EVs &
Transportation
Smart Makes
Utility Utility Consumption data Infrastructure
Makes available
Meter solutions
In-Home available Grid data
Display data and
Generation data services
Thermostat
Fuel Storage
Load Legal Framework
Control
Modules Commercial Framework
Energy
Management
Utility Interaction Channels
Figure 10
cognizant 20-20 insights 8
9. Approach 2: Consortium Method
Customer
External Stakeholders
Utility Customer Interaction Channels
Internet/Paging Alternate
Network/RF Energy Sources
Solution 1 Solution 2
EVs &
Solution 3 Solution 4 Transportation
Smart
Utility Utility Infrastructure
Utility or a utilities Makes
Meter Makes
services partner
In-Home available available
collaborates to develop
Display guidance best-of-breed solutions expertise
Thermostat and services.
Load Fuel Storage
Control Legal Framework
Modules
Commercial Framework
Energy
Management
Utility Interaction Channels
Figure 11
Innovations likely to emerge from this ecosystem approach followed by many industries for risk
include: mitigation when pursuing unchartered waters.
• A charging station service provider can design The salient features of this ecosystem include:
locations, rates, etc., based on load, grid
topography, etc. • Limited to no data access.
• Customers can receive consumption alerts • Utility involvement and investments; the
and notifications from a third-party (within the responsibility for formulating problem
defined customer interaction framework). statements rests with the utility.
• Customers can receive tailor-made solutions • Fewer opportunities for innovation and
and services for functions such as energy incentives for participants.
efficiency, load control.
• Similarities with existing one-to-one utility
• Common interface and standards can be relationships/partnerships except that this
developed for interactions between EVs, model offers a common commercial and legal
appliances and the utility. framework, expanding the opportunity for
partners to co-innovate and collaborate for
• Innovations can be developed, such as appliances mutual benefit.
that can communicate with the utility and the
customer to determine the optimal timing for Innovations likely to come out of this ecosystem
usage (such as a dryer, pool heater, etc.). include:
• For functions such as energy management,
• Utilities can certify and recommend a certain
customers can choose from multiple vendors
brand/type of LED lights, solar panels, charging
(ie, Google or Cisco), while utilities can use the
stations, etc.
tools they need to collect and manage data
from the smart grid (à la iTunes). • Utilities can leverage a proprietary algorithm
of an energy efficiency solution provider to
Approach 2: This method is similar to Approach 1 deliver their DSM programs.
but with a lot less openness (see Figure 11). In fact,
Approach 2 is recommended when security and • Utilities can collaborate to develop and
co-brand charging stations, battery switch
privacy issues are insurmountable. This approach
stations, etc.
allows for point-to-point interactions between the
utility and ecosystem members. The additional • Utilities can collaborate with distributed
layer of controls and governance constrains generation infrastructure providers and
co-innovation and supports fewer ecosystem integrate their grid and back-end systems.
members. This may resemble the consortium
cognizant 20-20 insights 9
10. Approach 3: Point-to-Point Collaboration
Customer
External Stakeholders
Utility Customer Interaction Channels
Alternate
Internet/Paging
Network/RF Energy Sources
Legal Framework
EVs &
Solution 1
Smart Transportation
Utility Utility Solution 2 Infrastructure
Meter Makes Makes
In-Home available Solution 3 available
Display guidance expertise
Solution 4
Load Thermostat
Fuel Storage
Control
Modules
Commercial Framework
Energy
Management
Utility Interaction Channels
Figure 12
Approach 3: In this approach, the utility attempts • Typically, the utility builds on its strengths and
to enhance and fine-tune its strategic procure- capabilities core to the business and collabo-
ment process to fit the extended value chain (see rates with external stakeholders for the rest.
Figure 12). This approach is recommended when
there are legal and/or commercial challenges to
• Utilities may compete with external stakehold-
ers for specific functions.
building a multi-party ecosystem. Here, a utility
builds a narrow consortium of (typically indus- • Opportunities for innovation and incentives
try-leading) technology, solution and service exist for fewer participants.
providers. It collaborates individually, with or
without other partners being involved. This sig-
Looking Ahead
nificantly reduces innovation and solely relies on The extended value chain concept needs to be
individual collaboration to boost the ecosystem. woven into a utility’s strategy. To reach unprec-
edented vistas of operational innovation, utilities
Salient features of this ecosystem include: must find the right level of partner collaboration
with stakeholders whose interests and capabili-
• Access to data and utility problem statements ties are properly aligned. This wave of innovation
may not be available to ecosystem members. stands to deliver on all macro-economic expecta-
• Involvement and investments from the utility tions and, most importantly, generate superior
are significantly higher. value to customers and investors.
Footnotes
1
“The Power to Reduce CO2 Emissions,” Electric Power Research Institute, 2009.
2
“Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review and Energy Outlook,” U.S. Department of
Energy, 2010.
3
Sandia National Laboratories, http://www.sandia.gov/ess/project_map/index.html.
4
Research from Cleantech Group.
5
Sherry Lichtenberg, Ph.D., “Smart Grid Data: Must There Be Conflict Between Energy Management and
Consumer Privacy?” National Regulatory Research Institute, 2010, http://www.nrri.org/pubs/telecommu-
nications/NRRI_smart_grid_privacy_dec10-17.pdf.
cognizant 20-20 insights 10