Making predictions is a risky activity. Making predictions
in the utility industry can be perilous. History is filled with
missed or prematurely exuberant pronouncements of the
future of utilities and energy. For example, in the late 20th
century, many predicted that the world’s oil supply had
reached peak production and would become scarce. Instead,
shale gas and oil are in abundance. In the 1990s, people
predicted that fuel cells and hydrogen would dominate the
landscape by 2010, another illustration that predictions
can fail to reach their promise.