He turned out to be right: Major developers went bankrupt in the aftermath, including Calpine and NRG Energy. At the same time, energy demand from transportation and industrial applications—including fracking equipment—is steadily shifting to electricity. While power demand looks set to inevitably grow, the magnitude and timing are still an open question. Notably, utilities’ long-term demand forecasts have changed a lot over the past few years and are likely to keep being revised. So while an outright bust looks unlikely, there is still the risk that independent power producers’ stocks get ahead of themselves.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 09, 2024 13:45 UTC