Surviving and prospering in a changing EPC business
Countries worldwide continue to privatize national utilities and attract foreign investment to meet growing demand for power. As a result, the global power marketplace has become highly complex, competitive, and volatile. The changes that are occurring in the electric utility industry around the world are having a dramatic impact on the way new power and T and D projects are engineered, procured, and constructed (EPC). The power EPC business faces pressures of competition and price reductions. Deregulation uncertainties and slow demand growth in the west have caused many domestic EPC firms to look internationally for new opportunities. They face many challenges, most of which relate to dealing with a much higher level of risk than they had previously been exposed to. This paper discusses some of the critical issues EPC companies are facing worldwide, how leading companies are responding to these challenges, and which strategies are likely to allow EPC companies to prosper and sustain growth in the future. Some attractive future market opportunities are highlighted. This paper concludes that EPC firms will have to develop capabilities in certain key markets, and simultaneously operate globally. EPC firms will have to develop clearer strategies to remain profitable. Either they develop scale globally through consolidation and target aggressive market shares, or develop specialized niches, especially in the technology service areas. EPCs can continue to sustain growth by leveraging in other areas of the power industry what they do best: providing technical services and building infrastructure. EPC firms can capitalize on the growing need for system-level planning and design in fuel, power, and transmission and distribution, or target higher-growth opportunities in high-value market segments such as repowering, cogeneration, and environmental systems.
- OSTI ID:
- 20018801
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9806214-; TRN: US0001981
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Power-Gen Europe'98, Milan (IT), 06/09/1998--06/11/1998; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating Systems: Windows 3.1, '95, '98 and NT; Macintosh; and UNIX; PBD: [1998]; Related Information: In: Power-gen Europe'98, [2400] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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