Skip to main content

Global Power Sector Overview

Over the last couple of decades, the global power sector has undergone a profound transformation, presenting new challenges but also providing new opportunities for sustainable development and growth. Nebras is set to shape actively the evolving global power industry by pioneering the energy of the future.

Emerging Markets Leading Demand for Power Generation

Emerging markets are expected to lead demand growth, driven by economic and population upward dynamics and increased electrification, mainly in Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America. Conversely, most of the developed countries are experiencing a decline in demand due to slowing economic growth, efficiency gains, growing demand-side management, and with the advent of energy saving technologies.

Technology mix: predominance of gas, renewable baseload revolution and distributed power generation

From a technology mix perspective, we are witnessing a global shift towards renewable energy sources, increasingly becoming less expensive. It is projected that solar will be the dominant technology within the renewable market space. In conventional power generation, gas is projected to drive future capacity growth because it is capable of providing a quick and clean source of baseload capacity and growing rapidly due to environmental challenges for coal and nuclear technologies. Notwithstanding this growth in the gas sector, coal will continue to play a role in Asian and African countries owing to less stringent environmental guidelines and regulations, and due to an abundance of domestic inexpensive resources.

Moreover, the emergence and development of energy storage solutions is setting up the conditions for the renewable baseload revolution through the combination of intermittent power with fast and readily available reserve capacity. Congruently, the fast-growing dynamics of distributed power generation and the advent of off-grid power systems are putting pressure on the traditional unidirectional model of electric power systems and leading to new market opportunities.

Greenfield Developments in Emerging Markets

Most of the new greenfield developments are expected to derive from emerging economies in South East Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America. In order to meet the upward trend in demand, market competitiveness is expected to increase and providers of both debt and equity capital anticipate they will need to become more selective toward specific markets. Governments are increasingly seeking private sector participation in the power sector to meet demand especially in emerging markets, where the unbundling of vertically integrated government-owned entities is underway.

Expected Trends in Merchant Markets

Merchant markets are likely to be the prevalent factor in the future. However, there is increasing pressure on regulators to introduce capacity payment schemes to support long-term returns.

The Smart Energy Revolution

As far as the electricity transmission and distribution segments are concerned, the increasing adoption of computing intelligence and networking ability to the existing conventional networks (smart grid solutions) is allowing electric utilities to better control their networks. Additionally, the adoption of this computer intelligence is also helping utility providers to better connect to their customers, to compete more effectively and to provide expanded services to end-users who have now become active players in the energy conservation process.

Power Sector's Paradigm Shift

The aforementioned dynamics and trends are occurring in a context where energy efficiency policies and programs are proliferating, supported by technology advances and evolving consumer habits. These new conditions are inevitably producing a paradigm shift in the decision-making process related to modern asset development and asset management within the power industry.

Nebras Power Strategic Objective

Our overall strategic objective is to achieve optimal investment portfolio returns while growing our global asset base, and to expand technological knowhow across the whole spectrum of power generation and water desalination technologies. This includes active participation in the global shift in the nature of the power generation industry and pioneering new energy solutions. To achieve this objective, Nebras Power's Board of Directors has developed a clear set of strategic directions that guide the management team in assessing, selecting, executing and managing investments.