Dive Summary:
- In his article Utilities: What Wal-Mart's power plans say about your future (it's scary!), Jesse Berst, the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News, analyzes how Wal-Mart's energy plans signal the potential demise of the utility business model.
- Berst highlights that Wal-Mart is enacting the plan for economic reasons, not environmental, PR-friendly purposes, which should worry utilities as it means demand for their electricity could soon drop off.
- Berst asks utilities to consider what it would be like if all business customers followed Walmart's forward-thinking plan, relying on them only to provide a minimal amount of 100% renewable energy, and suggests utilities expand into the rooftop solar market to save themselves.
From the article:
"... Now consider that Walmart is a thought leader in big box retailing, pioneering business strategies that its rivals rush to copy.
Anybody else worried what this will mean for the utility business model, which for the last 50 years has assumed that demand will grow every year? Anybody else think that utilities should be getting into the business of supplying rooftop solar for the customers that want it? ..."
