YNTR: Utilities Don’t See Stranded Assets as a Top Risk. Should They?

You Need to Read Utility Dive’s Utilities Don’t See Stranded Assets as a Top Risk. Should They? by Catherine Morehouse

Utilities continue to invest in new gas power plants and other infrastructure even though the writing is on the wall that they are likely to become un-economical before they’ve served out their useful life, therefore generating extra financial burden on utilities that would likely be passed along to consumers. Investors should be concerned. There’s a significant risk that gas plants will go the way of coal plants, but only 18% of utility professionals surveyed listed this as a “top concern.”

The Rocky Mountain Institute in September found that 70% of projected gas plant buildouts will be rendered uneconomic by 2035 as low-cost renewable energy + demand response + energy efficiency portfolios begin to undercut those investments. 

“We get approached a lot about buying gas plants in the U.S. — I wouldn’t touch one in the Northeast [or] Midwest. I wouldn’t go near it,” Ontario Power Generation President and CEO Ken Hartwick said at the S&P Global conference. “In a lot of these [jurisdictions] it’s the next coal, and I think it’s coming quicker than we think.”

Bring your loved ones together this holiday season to give #GiftsToTheFuture. Each day on the way to welcoming the new year, we'll share a little something you can do to help make it (and many years that follow) better for those you love. enough.co/gifts-to-the-future

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