- SOAR/SWOT Analysis
Thank you for taking the time to complete the following SOAR/SWOT analysis, which comprises a series of questions intended to help identify our strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results, weaknesses and threats. Your thoughtful responses to these questions and participation in the upcoming planning meeting in December are instrumental to shaping the future of SOPS. As you respond to these questions, please think strategically but also more granularly about tactics and day-to-day operations, such as organizational structure, processes, procedures, roles and responsibilities, systems, skills, etc.
If you need assistance in accessing your incomplete form, please reach out to Rachael del Valle at rdelvall@southernco.com.
- Bain & Company Breakout Session Sign-Up Form
Our partners at Bain & Company are facilitating a 90-minute strategy session as part of the kick-off for our planning meeting. The session will begin by providing highlights on future trends and opportunities for natural gas utilities. Then we will break out into a "virtual gallery walk" where you will attend four 15-minute sessions to learn more on specific topics. These deep-dive topics have been selected to cover leading industry insights, technologies, and innovations across each of Southern Operation’s strategy pillars.
The following form will collect your preferences for which breakout sessions you would like to attend during Bain & Company’s industry update scheduled for day one of the planning meeting. You will have the opportunity to attend four of the available seven breakout sessions.
- Optional Pre-Read Material
“Managing the Energy Transition” (Bain, 2019)
An analysis of the integrated economics of global energy markets, describing the disruptions underway, range of plausible outcomes, and scenarios to manage businesses in times of uncertainty. Sample insights from our most recent report:
- In the era of hyper-competitiveness, energy companies will face non-traditional competitors as new participation models exploit vertical and horizontal integration opportunities within and across energy value chains to create sustainable competitive advantage.
- Peak oil demand scenarios out to 2030 are now commonplace as new sources of demand destruction begin to have an impact on the oil market.
- Demand for fossil fuels could peak by 2030 under a more aggressive transition to a greener future, as growth in the demand for natural gas fails to compensate for lower demand for oil and coal.
- Global energy demand growth continues to slow as sustainability considerations affect not only the energy mix but the overall demand for energy.
“Implications of Policy-Driven Residential Electrification” (AGA, 2018)
AGA’s study set out to understand the potential costs and benefits of residential electrification policies. As states and local municipalities increasingly pursue “deep decarbonisation” of their economies and as the electric grid becomes less carbon-intensive, some policy-makers and environmental advocates are looking at mandated residential electrification as one option for reducing residential greenhouse gas emissions. Sample insights include:
- By 2035, natural gas will account for 4% of direct residential GHG emissions. Reductions from policy-driven residential electrification studied in this report would reduce GHG emissions by 1-1.5% of total US GHG emissions in 2035.
- Policy-driven electrification would increase the average residential household energy-related costs of affected households between $750-910 per year
- The costs and impacts from residential electrification can differ dramatically within a given region or state based on a number of factors, e.g., differences in weather and climate, natural gas and electricity prices, housing stock, fuel used in the electric grid, and the local impacts to the distribution systems
“The Challenge of Retail Gas in California’s Low-Carbon Future” (CEC, 2020)
The study evaluates scenarios that achieve an 80% reduction in California’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from 1990 levels, focused on the implications of achieving these climate goals for gas customers and the gas system. Achieving these goals in California will require large-scale transformations of the state’s energy economy in any scenario. Sample insights include:
- Building electrification is likely to be a lower-cost, lower-risk, long-term strategy compared to renewable natural gas. A key uncertainty is whether consumers will adopt electrification technologies at scale, regardless of their cost effectiveness.
- In any low-carbon future, gas demand in buildings is likely to fall because of building electrification or the cost of RNG
- The potential for large reductions in gas demand creates a new planning imperative for the state of California
- Even in a “high building electrification” scenario, millions of gas customers remain on the gas system through 2050, and it will be critical to maintain reasonable gas rates and the financial viability of gas utilities.