![]() Throw into that mix the investors' lack of confidence, and it all went down in flames at once.”īecause of the surplus of power, some developers decided it was in their best financial interest to cut their losses, cancel projects that were already well underway, and sell off the assets at fire sale prices. “Due to overbuilding, gas prices have gone up and power prices have gone down. “Over the last five to seven years, gas and electric prices were very attractive, and it appeared to be a good investment for merchant developers,” Butcher says. The problem was compounded by the fall of Enron, which lowered lending institutions' confidence in developers' ability to accurately report the financial performance of a project.Įnergy prices also played a role in the overcapacity. ![]() The amount of speculative building led to a surplus, and the bubble eventually burst. As a result, the number of plants that went online in the past three to five years experienced exponential growth. Merchant power plant developers pursued every opportunity available to make a high return on investment. People pour their hearts and personal lives into these projects.” “It's gut-wrenching when a project is cancelled, especially if you're well into it. “No new projects were booked, and it seemed like every day, all we heard about was the cancellation of projects,” says Doug Butcher, chief control and electrical engineer of the energy, engineering and construction division of Overland Park, Kan.-based Black & Veatch. But all that work seemed to vanish overnight. The power plant market exploded in 2000, forcing electrical design firms to turn away customers. In a tough economy, these firms are discovering ways to survive and even thrive amongst a tough field of competition. To give you a general overview of the companies, we've included capsule summaries that describe the firms' size and branch office locations, how the companies were founded, their areas of expertise, and the key markets they serve. We also list the location of their headquarters, number of employees, and date founded. In the Table below, we ranked the companies based on a combination of factors, including 2002 revenues submitted by the firms, data from Dun and Bradstreet's Million Dollar Database, and the companies' involvement in electrical design. These powerhouse firms identified the latest hot and cool markets, current trends in electrical design, and the challenges that lie ahead for the remainder of this year. To gain a better understanding of the challenging marketplace, EC&M surveyed the nation's largest electrical design firms for its inaugural Top 40 listing. Three years ago, electrical design firms had more work than they could handle, but today many markets have all but disappeared. This downturn, coupled by the weak economy, has resulted in intense competition, plummeting price levels, and a buyer's market. The electrical power industry hit rock bottom in 2002, leading to lower-than-expected revenues for design firms nationwide.
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