Baringa Partners opens energy and utilities practice in New York office

Management consultancy Baringa Partners has opened an energy and utilities practice in the firm’s New York office. The new practice will be led by industry veteran David Shepheard.

With more than two decades of experience in the European financial services industry, the UK-based Baringa entered the North American market in 2017 with the opening its New York office, offering the firm’s full range of capabilities, with an initial focus on risk and compliance, and process and transformation services. In addition to its New York practice, Baringa also has energy and resources practices in London, Dusseldorf, Sydney, and Abu Dhabi.

These practices have clients in sectors including power generation, clean tech, transmission operation, and retail supply, offering industry insights supported by marketing and fundamental analysis to aid in business strategy decisions.

Shepheard was a partner and vice president of corporate development and strategy for management consultancy Structure Europe, which specialized in the energy, financial services, and utility sectors. The firm in 2009 rebranded to Baringa Partners, as part of the process of legally separating Structure Europe from its US-based former sister company and establishing itself as an independent organization. Shepheard moved on to professional services firm Accenture, respectively serving as managing director of growth and strategy, Accenture strategy, and T&D innovation in just under four years.

“Baringa is a perfect fit for me at this point in my career,” Shepheard said in a statement. “In many ways, it’s a homecoming – rejoining a firm that has grown tremendously from the seeds of a European consulting business I helped to launch nearly 20 years ago. I am excited about returning to those roots and bringing Baringa’s unique blend of capabilities and services to North America. Baringa’s deep experience in all facets of the energy transformation in Europe will be hugely valuable to clients undertaking similar journeys in North America.”

The United States’ energy and utilities consulting industry is the largest in the world. With rapid transformation toward decentralization and decarbonization well underway, there is an increased focus on renewable energy resources, the development of battery storage capabilities, as well as concern regarding grid strain resulting from changes in power generation, such as those from increasingly severe weather events and electric vehicles (EVs). There are projected to be more than 125 million EVs on the roads by 2030, according to a study by the International Energy Agency.

Further, the relatively low cost of renewable energy is projected to decrease as technologies scale and storage and grid issues are addressed. Baringa’s timing, then, comes as no surprise.