Nearly 700 survey respondents cite renewable integration, aging infrastructure and environmental regulations as top challenges

As the U.S. electric industry faces the need for more resiliency and reliability in a decarbonizing world, Black & Veatch's 2024 Electric Report illustrates immense opportunity in renewables and sustainable infrastructure while highlighting the challenges of addressing grid modernization and cybersecurity threats.

In its 18th-year of the report, survey respondents tell the story of a U.S. electric sector far different from 2006. Climate events increasing in frequency and severity, cyberattacks that are more sophisticated and potentially damaging, and a rise in data centers all are adding pressure to power providers. New federal funding and regulations have increased opportunity and incentives for the industry to modernize and become more sustainable, though more than half of respondents (54 percent) see regulation as a challenge.

"The 2024 Electric Report encapsulates a state of the industry that allows utilities to better understand how their peers approach modern challenges," said Jim Doull, Executive Vice President, now leading Power Providers sector. "While regulations and funding move forward, each electric utility may find itself following different paths when it comes to accessibility or prioritization, and this report offers the necessary insight to understand what comes next in advancing the future of U.S. energy."

The 2024 Black & Veatch Electric Report findings surfaced four challenges utilities face, including:

Cybersecurity Takes Focus for Electric Utilities: As power utility IT and OT networks grow in technological complexity and sophistication, so does opportunity for cyber-attacks. The ever-widening use of digital and smart-grid components expands the potential attack surfaces, exposing vulnerabilities in grid security. Seven in 10 respondents report at least some level of confidence in their utility's ability to recover from a cybersecurity attack, painting a reactionary response instead of a proactive plan.
The Urgent Need for Grid Modernization: As energy stewards, utilities continually strive to balance grid expansion needs with competing interests, including operating and managing aging infrastructure, interconnection requirements, and the ever-present challenge of delivering safe, reliable energy to their customers. When survey respondents were asked when they anticipate various factors to be drivers of grid modernization for their organization, renewable energy penetration emerged as the most significant current catalyst at 57 percent, followed by low probability/high impact events (e.g., weather) at 43 percent. Renewable reliability at a large scale is also a leading issue for utilities, given their intermittency.
AI, Data Center Demand Load Growth: Data centers have proliferated on the commercial power landscape, and their load requests - from several hundred megawatts to 1 or 2 gigawatts - are exponentially larger than anything previously seen, compounding challenges in the U.S. power industry. When asked about load forecasting, 45 percent of respondents say they have no confidence or are not very confident in their forecasting for data center loads, perhaps due to the large amount of uncertainty that can come with data center power requests and expectations.
Severe Climate Events Continue to Impact the Grid: Impacts from severe climate events are affecting utilities in all the regions of the country. While the geographical impacts vary - from fire to snow, hurricanes and tornadoes - the fallout remains the same in the form of outages, damaged infrastructure, and widespread disruption. When asked if resiliency is being given more consideration in utility's investment decision-making, nearly 80 percent of respondents reported "yes," demonstrating a proactive approach by utilities in making progress in their resiliency efforts.
"By assessing where the electric industry is on an annual basis, we are able to better track emerging trends, as well as where the industry has seen pain points throughout the years," continued Doull. "With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), we see increasing demand for data centers - challenging the grid to keep up with load growth - which also brings a need for IT and OT cybersecurity, making today's challenges look different than they did nearly 20 years ago, when we first published this report."

As the electric industry shifts, new threats arise and old challenges remain, utilities continue to plan for the future and secure reliable, consistent energy for their communities. And as new funding becomes available and regulations reveal themselves, leaders such as Black & Veatch continue to stay up to date on emerging trends and technologies to best serve their clients and prepare the U.S. power sector for what's ahead — whether it's supporting the energy transition or assessing software and systems.