ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America's leading management consulting firms specializing in energy, has released its latest edition of The Energy Industry Update. Themed "Don't Stop Believin'," this EIU explores growth strategies and challenges in infrastructure development.

What growth strategies are energy and utility companies undertaking? How are they threading the needle of developing and modernizing needed infrastructure while navigating challenges from various stakeholders with disparate interests and concerns? In this report, ScottMadden offers the latest on the strategic drivers motivating and challenging the energy industry, including:

• Grid modernization efforts around the nation, including some common themes, and what utilities should consider for their own programs

• Evolving federal policy toward wholesale energy infrastructure development, including emerging issues in power transmission and gas pipeline projects

• Opportunities for and possible trade-offs with increased electrification, which is of increasing interest to the electric industry, environmental groups, and some policymakers

"The energy industry continues to reconfigure itself for the 21^st century," says Greg Litra, partner and director of research at ScottMadden. "For utilities, believing in and pursuing growth, while minimizing costs and other impacts, remains both a challenge and an opportunity. We hope this issue of our EIU helps inform the discussion on these topics."