The North American transmission and distribution (T&D) network, the aging backbone of the country’s power system, is poised for a dramatic facelift—and that’s creating opportunities for companies that provide key construction, maintenance, and other services related to infrastructure improvement and expansion.

In our new report, Electric and Natural Gas Transmission & Distribution Infrastructure, we provide an overview of the electric and gas T&D sectors, explore the specific dynamics underpinning each, and discuss the prevailing market trends that continue to drive infrastructure investment. We also highlight some of the leading utility services players and key opportunities and considerations for buyers. Here, we share the highlights of this new report.

Over the long term, a variety of market trends have driven steady investment—to the tune of tens of billions of dollars every year—on initiatives to replace, upgrade, maintain, and expand T&D infrastructure. These include the increasing age of the networks, more stringent regulations, increased demand for power delivery, a greater focus on renewable energy, smart grid initiatives, and utilities’ involvement in the deployment of 5G wireless telecommunications networks.

Yet utilities can’t execute these significant undertakings on their own. That’s excellent news for utility services providers, to which utilities are increasingly turning to take on work they don’t have the capacity to do. In fact, utilities’ growing emphasis on cost reduction and efficiency, aging and shrinking workforces, and increasing need for specialty technological skills are leading utilities to outsource more services work to independent providers.

The utility services market, which remains largely fragmented, ranges from large platforms focused on construction to niche, regional service providers concentrating on maintenance. The former are positioned to benefit from the massive capital projects utilities are undertaking, while the latter can capitalize on rising spend among utilities to step up infrastructure maintenance, inspection, and testing (in many cases, driven by an increasingly stringent regulatory environment). In either case, buyers can benefit from the confluence of trends that have made investing in the country’s T&D infrastructure a priority for utilities over the next several years.

To learn more and receive a copy of the report, please contact one of our professionals.

Drew Spitzer, Managing Director

Matt White, Managing Director

Thomas Saunders, Vice President

Neha Shah, Vice President

Published June 2020