The utility industry has been responding to major market challenges over the last few years by incorporating technological, social, and environmental factors. The extraordinary pace of transformation in the utility business and operations is being driven by:

• Reform of the regulatory market, new entrants, and disruptive technologies
• Climate change, environmental issues, and targets for greenhouse gas and carbon emission reductions.
• There is a lot of growth in renewable generation and other distributed resources.
• Patterns of volatile consumption
• Assets that are aging with higher reliability expectations
• The retirement of an aging workforce
• Increasing pressure on productivity and operational efficiency of the workforce;
• Consumers are increasingly interested in and require participation in the energy value-chain;
• The rise of micro- and distributed generation, and the trend towards a federated operational system.