Antenna: Energy

In this series of reports, Brewin Dolphin focuses on the major global trends that are shaping the world around us:

The energy industry is increasingly shaped by China’s bold strategic ambition to dominate the market, resulting in huge investment, substantial growth and precipitous price deflation. This has advanced the spread of renewable energy sources abroad, but at the expense of shareholder returns.

• Generation game - Huge progress has been made in renewable energy over the past two decades, however political will and changing public opinion are not enough to sustain momentum on their own.
• Green shoots - Large oil and gas companies are not resting on their laurels and are instead reinvesting part of their cash flow in renewable assets.
• Lights out - Adopting AI and machine learning, as well as educating and upskilling people, is vital in helping to prevent further cyber-attacks on power grids across the world.
• Potential energy - In order to utilise renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, we must look to better control our energy flow and storage to ensure an even supply.
• The big switch - It is easy to think that cleaning up our energy habit is about shifting to renewable sources, but our relationship with energy consumption on an individual level needs to change too.
• Lightbulb moment - If we can crack nuclear fusion power, the world as we know it could change completely - and this is closer than we think.