Publications

September 2011 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Duke Energy and the Nuclear Renaissance

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

Duke Energy, an American investor-owned electric utility, confronts multibillion dollar decisions about its future fuel mix. In particular, its leaders are considering building new nuclear capacity. Whether this is sensible depends, among other things, on demand... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Expansion; Policy; Business Strategy; Energy Sources; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

10 Jun 2014
News

Finance Minister Addresses Canada-US Energy Concerns

Keywords: Oil and Gas Extraction; Mining

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA

By: Richard Vietor

Cape Wind is an extreme example of NIMBY--not in my backyard syndrome. This is the first offshore wind project planned for the United States, in Nantucket Sound, just south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Initially proposed six years ago, in 2001, the wind farm would be... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Projects; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Energy Industry; Massachusetts

01 Dec 2008
News

Energy Sources: Daniel Yergin and the EP Team

Daniel Yergin is a founding partner of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Prize, which chronicles oil’s rise and impact on the world. He was winding up a postdoctoral fellowship in... View Details

Keywords: Oil and Gas Extraction; Mining

August 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Supplement

Gazprom (B): Energy and Strategy in a New Era

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Sogomon Tarontsi and Alexander Jorov

President Putin publicly stated that Gazprom, the largest natural gas producer in the world, was a powerful political lever of the Russian state in the world and a keystone in the foundation of the country's energy security. Thus the top leadership of Russia has... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Energy Industry; Russia; Ukraine

October 7, 2022
Article

Why Nations Lead or Lag in Energy Transitions

By: Jonas Meckling, Phillip Lipscy, Jared Finnegan and Florence Metz

Keywords: Energy Sources; Global Range; Transition; Policy

Register to Read

November 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Colbún and the Future of Chile's Power

By: Forest Reinhardt and Shon R. Hiatt

This case is about Colbún, Chile's second largest electricity generator, which is facing significant uncertainty regarding the cost and availability of alternative energy sources. Problems with the contracted supply of natural gas and the volatility of oil prices,... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Chile; Environmental Protection; Energy Generation; Energy Industry; South America; Chile

21 Nov 2017
News

Alumni Peer into the Future of Energy

Justin Dawe (MBA 2007), president, Scoot Networks (photo courtesy of Scoot Networks) What do you think the state of the energy industry will be in 2030? HBS students in the Energy and Environment Club asked... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; solar power; wind power

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

Keywords: Clean Tech; Digital; Carbon Credits; Carbon Offsetting; Climate Change; Entrepreneurship; Energy Sources; Environmental Sustainability; Health; Market Design; Business Startups; Transition; Environmental Regulation; Policy; Energy Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; Kenya; Rwanda

November 2011
Teaching Note

Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA (TN)

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Keywords: Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; United States

15 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Navigating the Future of Renewable Energy at Port Esbjerg

In January 2024, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led 45 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark and the Netherlands, in the second year of... View Details

14 Mar 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: SELCO - Last Mile Solar Powered Energy for Rural India

tackle the largest sources of drudgery and inconvenience in everyday life as well as energy instability which is common in rural areas. SELCO’s codified approach of first innovating with a user-centered... View Details

March 2015 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Turkey and the Southern Corridor

By: Rawi Abdelal, Esel Çekin and Cigdem Çelik

In December 2014, Russia cancelled the South Stream pipeline that was envisaged to deliver natural gas through the Black Sea basin on to Europe and replaced it with a new pipeline through Turkey. The Turkish Stream was a great opportunity for Turkey to turn itself into... View Details

Keywords: Business ＆ Government Relations; Energy; Energy Security; Energy Corridor; Hub; Turkey; European Union; Eurasia; Politics; International Relations; Trade; Energy Sources; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; European Union; Turkey; Russia

11 Jun 2015
News

Innovative Strategy Would Speed the Transition to a Lower-Carbon Energy Future

Keywords: Oil and Gas Extraction; Mining

June 2012 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Low-Carbon, Indigenous Innovation in China

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

For the past seven years or so, the Chinese government has been powering ahead with industrial policies to promote low-carbon energy technologies—wind, solar, electric batteries and vehicles, nuclear power, and even carbon capture and sequestration. In 2009, the... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Renewables; Carbon; Environment; Industrial Policy; Competitiveness; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Renewable Energy; Competition; Globalized Markets and Industries; Energy Industry; China

February 2021
Case

Yellow Digital Retailers: Providing Solar Electricity to Transform Rural Africa

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Norris

In 2020, Mike Heyink and Maya Stewart, co-founders of the Pay-as-you-Go Solar company Yellow were considering how to grow their startup. They had achieved some success in their first market, Malawi, and had recently entered Uganda, where business was slower. What did... View Details

Keywords: Solar Energy; Business Model; Business Startups; Developing Countries and Economies; Alternative Energy; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Salesforce Management; Diversification; Expansion; Energy Industry; Africa; South Africa; Malawi; Uganda

December 2023
Article

When Should the Off-Grid Sun Shine at Night? Optimum Renewable Generation and Energy Storage Investments

By: Christian Kaps, Simone Marinesi and Serguei Netessine

Globally, 1.5 billion people live off the grid, their only access to electricity often limited to operationally-expensive fossil fuel generators. Solar power has risen as a sustainable and less costly option, but its generation is variable during the day and... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Renewable Energy