If you are interested in becoming an entrepreneur in the energy industry, it can seem intimidating to break into. There are so much information and such established competitors in the field, you might not think you have access to the right opportunities or the right resources to make it happen. But the energy industry is a cornerstone to the American economy and to many local markets. Here is some great information to help you understand whether success in the energy industry is within your reach.
Breaking into the Energy Market
It’s not just large-scale utilities that profit from energy generation. Small-scale – even individual level businesses are gaining momentum. People are selling the energy they produce, whether as a supplementary income or as their primary source of income. The industry is recognizing that infrastructure resilience is increasingly more important. If a storm or natural disaster impacts one corner of the power grid, a sustainable network should have enough sources of alternative power generation to hold a community over until power is restored. The hurricanes of 2017 saw entire regions devastated and left without power for prolonged periods of time. It’s clear to see that with more diverse energy sources, a more robust power grid would be a clear benefit of more small-scale and individual energy generators.
The rise of DERs and DSR
Distributed energy resources (DERs) and Demand-Side Response (DSR) are right in the biggest area of growth within the energy sector for the coming decade. According to research, the rise of DERs and the increasing sophistication of DSR technologies will continue. The value of these two energy alternative trends is built on how they broaden consumer options for sourcing and managing energy. Some examples of DERs and DSR technology include physical and virtual assets that are deployed across the distribution grid, typically close to load, and usually behind the meter. These assets can either be used individually or together to provide value to the grid, individual customers, or both. Solar, storage, energy efficiency, and demand management are all options that can be aggregated to provide services to the electric grid. And of course, those services are valuable to the service provider.
For example, two-way power grids are giving more and more consumers the opportunity to sell the electricity they’ve generated themselves back to the grid, a popular example of this is rooftop solar. As time goes by and needs an increase, these energy producer/consumers are better able to participate in wholesale energy markets through technologies like virtual power plants.
While it’s obvious that electric utilities and system operators face major challenges in integrating all this new capacity into existing grids, it’s equally important that we succeed in doing so. As the market adapts to new technologies and new business models, there are many opportunities for investors to jump in on the ground floor. Even large-scale utilities are looking to adapt their business models to take advantage of these new market opportunities. Resistance serves no one in this case.
Work With ESGI – a Leader in Power Generation Recruitment
If you need help with entering the energy industry or trying to get into power generation, contact ESGI today to get started!
