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Industry research

Energy & utilities

Rank facility capex by return, benchmark asset operating cost, and release cash trapped in spare parts and project working capital.

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See our work ↓Outcomes in this sector ↓See a sample output ↓Common questions ↓

Industry context

Scope and topics in this sector.

Research scope
Upstream, refining, midstream, power generation, grid utilities and mining operators
Topics investigated
Facility carbon-price cash flows, marginal abatement curves, spare-parts working capital and contractor markups

Recent work · anonymized

Proof from delivered work in this sector.

  1. 01

    Ranking facility capex by return for an integrated energy producer

    The challenge
    Leadership needed to rank large capture retrofits against smaller heat-recovery and electrification projects as carbon costs rise.
    What we did
    Built 10-year facility cash-flow and marginal abatement cost models connecting steam-to-oil ratios, generation heat rates and output-based compliance credits to project-level IRR.
    The result
    Showed low-capex steam-trap and waste-heat recovery projects delivered positive returns at current carbon prices and can fund the equity share of later capture retrofits.
  2. 02

    Re-basing a utility portfolio screen on generation assets

    The challenge
    An institutional investor wanted its utility holdings assessed on what drives their economics: the generation assets.
    What we did
    Compiled facility-level fuel mix, heat rates, PPA pass-through clauses and retirement schedules across 47 utility and thermal holdings.
    The result
    Showed generation assets carry almost all of the portfolio's carbon-cost exposure, and pointed engagement to plant retirement timelines and rate-base recovery.
  3. 03

    Finding cash trapped in turnaround spares and contractor surcharges

    The challenge
    Multi-site refining and midstream depots carried duplicate critical spares while turnaround contractors billed unindexed fabrication and equipment surcharges.
    What we did
    Reconciled plant-level maintenance inventory turns against peer depots and built bottom-up should-cost models for heat-exchanger bundles and specialty valves.
    The result
    $10M+ cash release from pooled spares, plus immediate contractor rate cuts.

Commercial & operational plays

Outcomes we deliver in this sector.

Facility EBITDA and carbon-pricing cash-flow bridges

Convert asset-level emissions intensity, output and compliance schedules into multi-year EBITDA and cash-flow bridges under escalating carbon prices.

Risk against your framework

Marginal abatement capex sequencing and IRR

Compare electrification, heat-recovery, methane-capture and carbon-capture projects on abatement cost per tonne, capital payback and subsidy eligibility.

Value creation plan

Spare-parts inventory and MRO should-cost recovery

Release cash tied up in slow-moving maintenance spares across plants and depots, and unbundle OEM and contractor surcharges on turnaround components.

Peer benchmark

Transformer, switchgear and critical-equipment supply maps

Trace multi-tier fabrication and foundry dependencies across grid and generation equipment to flag single-point lead-time bottlenecks before sanction.

Value-chain map

Illustrative deliverable

What the analysis looks like in this sector.

Facility carbon-price & abatement bridge · Refining & power portfolioIllustrative
Illustrative facility carbon-pricing cash-flow and marginal abatement comparison
Facility or leverNet compliance gapkt CO₂e / yrAbatement costCA$ / tAnnual cash impactCA$M / yrConfidence
Process-heat electrification180$45$14Mhigh
Compressor & steam-trap recovery90$25$8Mhigh
Turnaround MRO spare-parts pool0$0$12Mmedium
Post-combustion capture retrofit420$130$6Mest.Defer to next cycle
Illustrative portfolio; facility output-based allocations, credit schedules and capex paybacks are reconciled per asset.

Your next decision

What does your team need to know?

Understand why performance differs from peers

Turn a broad performance concern into specific value-creation questions for management.

Your question
Where do we lead or lag comparable businesses, and what might explain the gap?
What we investigate
Growth, profitability, productivity and business mix, with differences in definitions and disclosure flagged.
What you receive
A performance diagnostic, comparable peer benchmarks and a prioritized list of improvement hypotheses to test with management.

Peer benchmark

Compare strategic uses of capital

Quantify the EBITDA, cash-conversion and multiple impact of competing growth, channel, pricing and capex choices.

Your question
Which initiatives should we fund, sequence or stop to close the valuation or margin gap?
What we investigate
Wholesale-to-direct shifts, aftermarket expansion, SaaS services offloading, shared-services consolidation and abatement capex phasing.
What you receive
A quantified value creation plan comparing initiatives on EBITDA impact, cash payback, feasibility and risk.

Value creation plan

Assess industry and policy shifts

Quantify how tariff adjustments, defence offset rules, carbon price escalations and regulatory updates alter unit economics.

Your question
Which trade, procurement or regulatory changes could compress margins or open a domestic supply window?
What we investigate
Tariff schedules, domestic-content procurement rules, carbon pricing trajectories and technology cost curves within an agreed scope.
What you receive
An industry and policy impact assessment showing the margin and capital implications for your operations or book.

Peer benchmark

Examine framework-based risks

Translate facility operating and engineering disclosures into multi-year EBITDA bridges, capex return curves and borrower bankability readiness.

Your question
How do input costs, capex schedules and traceability requirements affect this asset's cash flows or borrowing spread?
What we investigate
Facility-level operating intensity, compliance liabilities, marginal capex return curves and borrower credit eligibility.
What you receive
An asset-level cash-flow and framework assessment with abatement scenarios, bankability gaps and questions for management.

Risk against your framework

Capabilities

The capabilities behind these questions.

  1. Map

    How does this market work, and where are the gaps?

    Expose sub-tier supplier chokepoints, sourcing markups and domestic capability gaps.

    You getValue-chain map

  2. Diagnose

    Where is the value, or the risk?

    Quantify trapped working capital, SKU and supplier markups, SG&A bloat and asset-level cost exposure.

    Company diagnosticPeer benchmarkRisk against your framework

    You getDiagnostic and peer benchmark

  3. Plan

    What should we do, and what is it worth?

    Build quantified EBITDA, cash-release, channel-mix and capex-phasing roadmaps.

    You getValue creation plan

Outcome programs in energy & utilities

Working Capital & Margin RecoveryShould-Cost & Supply-Chain ResilienceAsset Economics & Portfolio CoverageAll six outcomes

Common questions

Before we start.

Do we need to share internal plant historian data to start?

No. We build the initial facility baseline from mandatory emissions filings, regulatory rate-case dockets, environmental permits and peer disclosures, then refine it against any internal engineering schedules you choose to share.

How do you model provincial and federal carbon-credit interactions?

Every facility row models output-based performance standards, tier compliance prices, clean-fuel credit curves and capital tax credits separately so your committee can stress-test policy changes in the spreadsheet.

What does a typical energy or utility engagement deliver?

An executive brief and a live, formula-driven Excel model—covering facility carbon cash-flow bridges, marginal abatement curves, physical hazard exposure or MRO spare-parts benchmarks—with every cell traced to its source.

Start with one question

Bring us the question behind your next decision.

Tell us what you’re investigating and when you need an answer. We’ll discuss the scope, inputs and research that would help.

Discuss your project