Trends to Watch in 2021

Energy and Infrastructure

If You Thought 2020 was Crazy, Wait ‘til you see what 2021 has in store. Power, Renewables, Water, Transportation – Ulteig infrastructure experts highlight the key trends they’re watching in 2021.

Change is occurring rapidly as a new presidential administration gets up to speed, and the impact of that change could have huge ramifications for the power, renewables, water and transportation industries in the United States in the coming year and beyond.

That’s the consensus among four Ulteig infrastructure experts who gathered to share their insights and opinions about what’s in store for 2021 on the latest edition of the Ulteig Energy and Infrastructure Podcast.

In the latest installment, focusing on Trends to Watch in 2021, Ulteig’s Director of Corporate Communications Craig Davies moderates a panel of Ulteig infrastructure experts including, Aaron Lauinger, Market Director-Water and Transportation, Sarah Beckman, P.E., Program Director, Brian Sharpe, Market Director-Power, and Chad Crabtree, Market Director- Renewables.

The podcast conversation addresses a number of key issues, including:

- Impact of the Biden Administration on power, renewables, water and transportation

- What may happen from a legislative perspective with both houses of Congress controlled by Democrats;

- The passage of a $1 trillion+ infrastructure bill – will it actually happen;

- What a new emphasis on climate change will mean for U.S. infrastructure;

- How the growth of battery-powered electric vehicles may impact paying for transportation infrastructure;

- The resiliency of America’s infrastructure to super storms and significant flooding;

The panel also discusses their visions of the future for their respective market segments, and the reality of those future visions actually becoming a reality.

Some key highlights from the conversation included:

- At least for the first part of the year, the focus of the Biden Administration will be on stopping COVID-19. - If there is an infrastructure bill, the Biden Administration will push for investments in mass transit, for climate change reasons, even though a lot of people are avoiding mass transit now and for the foreseeable future because of COVID-19.

- An infrastructure bill is a high priority, but will most likely stall in the Senate. Big companies are committing themselves to carbon free goals – this will trickle down to requiring vendors to make carbon free commitments.

- The Biden Administration and Congress will keep pushing tax credits that favor renewable energy;

- With growing number of significant weather events, utilities are becoming just as concerned about investing for resiliency as they are for meeting carbon-free commitments and ensuring reliability.

- Congress will be forced to take action on funding for the nation’s highways.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you thought 2020 was crazy, wait until you see what 2021 has to offer, wild cards and all. To join in on the conversation, tune into the Ulteig Energy and Infrastructure Podcast.