Our energy and renewables practice is a growing business in response to the rapid changes underway both on the demand and supply sides of the energy sector. Energy is the lifeblood of a modern economy. Availability of uninterrupted (24/7) energy at reasonable prices is crucial to each and every individual, business and services entity. Reliable energy for lighting, heating, and cooling purposes to all households is essential for inclusive growth. Transport fuels are essential for modern trade and commerce, and uninterrupted power and other energy sources are crucial for manufacturing and services sectors.

And yet, there are hundreds of millions of people in Africa and South Asia who are still without electricity; similar numbers collect wood and other biomass to meet their cooking needs. In most developing countries, industry and commerce cite lack of reliable electricity and other energy sources as one of the biggest constraints. It is no surprise, then, that most developing countries assign highest priority to the development of energy infrastructure. However, energy supply faces various issues particularly in financial and environmental sustainability. Energy companies in many countries are unable to recover their cost of supply because of government mandated subsidies to large segments of the society. At the same time distortions in input and output prices lead to inefficient operations. Finally, energy (coal, oil) consumption is a primary source of greenhouse gases.

To mitigate climate change, the global community is making a concerted effort to severely cut back use of fossil fuels and increase the share of renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal, hydro). Energy efficiency of transport vehicles, office and household buildings, factories and other facilities is being improved to achieve low carbon economies. A reduction in the intensity of energy use in the global economy is underway just as new supply sources are coming on steam as a result of recent technological breakthroughs. This combined with the slowdown in China, India and other consuming countries has resulted in a huge drop in international oil prices. The reduced oil revenues in turn are having a very negative impact on oil and coal exporting countries throughout the world. In short, the energy sector is high on the policy agenda at the global and national levels.

Our Energy Expertise

Centennial Group’s energy practice is based on its world class expertise in key technical, economic, and financial aspects of the sector backed by its extensive experience in policy and strategy formulation in some 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America. It has carried out such policy and strategy formulations at the regional, national, and sub-national levels. It has successfully completed assignments for national governments as well as multilateral and bilateral institutions. Two special features of its past work are: its qualitative judgments and proposals that are underpinned by the state of art of quantitative analysis and its extensive worldwide data base; and increasingly, its work in the energy sector is intertwined with consideration of its impact on climate change and efforts to move countries towards a low carbon economy.

Our Team

Meet the principal(s) that lead our Energy and Renewables assignments: