Strategic Leadership in the Energy Sector Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Energy Strategy Directors, Business Unit Leaders and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-ETR-045

Before you join: Participants should have substantial professional experience in energy, utilities, infrastructure, industrial decarbonisation, finance, regulation or sustainability.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Energy companies are making capital decisions amid changing demand, carbon policy, grid constraints, technology cost declines and shifting customer expectations. Leaders must decide which assets to retain, develop, partner around or retire while preserving security of supply, financial performance and regulatory credibility. The challenge is not simply selecting renewable technologies; it is setting a defensible strategy under uncertainty and translating it into portfolio, investment, operating-model and stakeholder decisions.

This advanced course examines strategic leadership across power, renewables, oil and gas, energy services, infrastructure and major energy-consuming businesses. Participants assess market structures, transition scenarios, policy signals and geopolitical exposures; compare investment cases using LCOE, NPV, IRR, DSCR and real-options analysis; and evaluate renewable generation, storage, demand response, grids, hydrogen and electrification pathways. The course also addresses climate disclosure, carbon claims, transition and physical risk, partnership governance, community consent and board-level performance reporting.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with energy-sector cases, facilitated group analysis, market and investment simulations, and structured application planning. Participants work with realistic decisions such as repurposing thermal assets, financing a renewable portfolio, responding to curtailment risk, setting a credible decarbonisation pathway and managing a contested infrastructure project. They leave with a strategy-on-a-page, a transition portfolio assessment, an investment-case structure, a risk register and a 90-day application plan. The course is delivered over five days in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course is suited to senior and high-potential leaders who influence energy strategy, capital allocation, operations, sustainability, regulation or major transformation programmes.

What you will be able to do

  • Formulate an energy-transition strategy using PESTLE, Five Forces and energy-trilemma analysis
  • Assess policy, market-design and geopolitical signals affecting energy asset value
  • Construct transition scenarios using IEA pathways, signposts and demand assumptions
  • Prioritise energy assets using portfolio analysis, real-options logic and stranded-asset sensitivities
  • Evaluate renewable, storage and hydrogen investments using LCOE, NPV, IRR and DSCR
  • Develop a credible decarbonisation pathway using GHG Protocol inventories and marginal-abatement-cost curves
  • Build a transition-risk register using ISO 31000 and climate scenario analysis
  • Produce a strategy-on-a-page with OKRs, governance roles and implementation milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater authority in energy-transition investment and portfolio discussions
  • A repeatable method for testing strategic assumptions under uncertainty
  • Stronger ability to challenge renewable project economics and risk claims
  • Clearer board-level communication of transition choices and trade-offs
  • A practical 90-day plan for applying course methods to current priorities

For your organisation

  • More disciplined capital allocation across legacy and transition assets
  • Earlier identification of policy, curtailment, carbon-price and supply-chain risks
  • Stronger investment cases for renewables, storage, grids and electrification
  • Better alignment between climate commitments, operating plans and financial decisions
  • More credible engagement with regulators, communities, partners and investors

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can diagnose an energy business position and define strategic choices under transition pressure.

  • Energy value chains mapped from resource extraction through end-use services
  • PESTLE analysis distinguishes policy, technology, demand and geopolitical drivers
  • Porter's Five Forces tests industry attractiveness and profit-pool shifts
  • Strategic intent translated into choices, trade-offs and measurable strategic themes
  • Business-model archetypes compare integrated utilities, IPPs, retailers and aggregators
  • Energy trilemma assessed through affordability, security and decarbonisation objectives
  • Corporate centre and business-unit roles clarified using operating-model design

Participants can interpret market and policy conditions that affect energy strategy and asset cash flows.

  • Electricity-market designs compare energy-only, capacity-market and regulated revenue models
  • Merit-order pricing explains wholesale-price formation and cannibalisation risk
  • Policy instruments assessed: auctions, contracts-for-difference, tax credits and renewable certificates
  • Regulatory impact map links rule changes to asset cash flows
  • Nationally Determined Contributions interpreted as demand signals and policy constraints
  • Carbon-pricing mechanisms compare taxes, emissions trading systems and border adjustments
  • Geopolitical exposure assessed through fuel dependencies, trade routes and critical minerals
  • Scenario signposts identify policy triggers requiring strategic response

Participants can construct and use scenarios to test strategic assumptions and investment timing.

  • IEA STEPS, APS and NZE scenarios compared for strategic assumptions
  • Scenario matrix combines demand uncertainty with technology-cost and policy variables
  • Signposts and leading indicators convert scenarios into monitored management assumptions
  • Demand forecasts segment electrification, efficiency, distributed generation and hydrogen loads
  • Learning curves estimate cost trajectories for solar, batteries and electrolysers
  • System dynamics identifies feedback loops between prices, investment and demand
  • Strategic options stress-tested against divergent transition pathways and timing

Participants can prioritise energy assets and evaluate portfolio actions under transition uncertainty.

  • Asset portfolio mapped by cash generation, emissions intensity and remaining life
  • BCG growth-share logic adapted for energy assets and market positions
  • Capital allocation compares sustain, grow, harvest, divest and retire decisions
  • Real-options analysis values staged investments under regulatory and price uncertainty
  • Stranded-asset exposure quantified using demand, carbon-price and utilisation sensitivities
  • Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures screened for strategic fit
  • Decommissioning liabilities incorporated into lifecycle portfolio decisions and provisions

Participants can assess low-carbon project economics, financing structures and revenue-risk allocation.

  • LCOE calculations separate capital, operating, financing and capacity-factor assumptions
  • LCOH compares electrolyser utilisation, electricity supply and transport costs
  • Project-finance cash flows model debt service, covenants and reserve accounts
  • NPV, IRR and DSCR interpreted alongside strategic and system-value criteria
  • Merchant-price exposure tested with capture-price, curtailment and basis-risk assumptions
  • Contracts-for-difference, PPAs and tolling agreements allocate revenue risk
  • Investment cases include grid connection, permitting and community-benefit costs

Participants can assess system constraints and flexibility requirements affecting energy project strategy.

  • Power-system balancing distinguishes energy, capacity, ancillary-service and congestion requirements
  • Variable renewable integration assessed through hourly profiles and correlation effects
  • Storage dispatch compares arbitrage, capacity and ancillary-service revenue stacks
  • Demand-response programmes assess flexible-load availability, incentives and measurement baselines
  • Grid-connection queues and curtailment constraints incorporated into development sequencing
  • Distributed-energy resources evaluated through hosting capacity and local network impacts
  • Hydrogen and electrification pathways tested against system efficiency and infrastructure needs

Participants can connect emissions reduction programmes, disclosure obligations and strategic investment decisions.

  • GHG Protocol scopes mapped across operational assets, purchased energy and value chains
  • Baseline emissions inventory establishes organisational and asset-level decarbonisation starting points
  • Marginal-abatement-cost curves rank initiatives by cost, volume and implementation timing
  • Science-based target pathways distinguish absolute, intensity and avoided-emissions claims
  • IFRS S2 disclosures connect climate risks, metrics, targets and financial effects
  • Renewable-energy procurement compares PPAs, certificates and on-site generation claims
  • Carbon-credit quality assessed using additionality, permanence, leakage and verification criteria

Participants can identify, assess and govern strategic risks arising from the energy transition.

  • ISO 31000 risk process structures identification, analysis, treatment and monitoring
  • Transition-risk register captures policy, technology, market and reputation exposures
  • Physical climate hazards screened using location, vulnerability and consequence data
  • Bow-tie analysis links threats, preventive controls, consequences and recovery barriers
  • Climate scenario analysis tests financial resilience under acute and chronic hazards
  • Critical-mineral supply risks assessed through concentration, substitution and recycling options
  • Crisis escalation protocols assign decision rights, communications and recovery priorities

Participants can build stakeholder, partnership and communications approaches for major energy decisions.

  • Stakeholder salience maps power, legitimacy and urgency around energy projects
  • Materiality assessment distinguishes enterprise priorities from stakeholder concerns and evidence
  • Community-benefit agreements address local value, consent and grievance mechanisms
  • Public-affairs strategy separates factual engagement, advocacy and regulatory consultation
  • Partnership governance defines contributions, incentives, data rights and dispute resolution
  • Just-transition principles address workforce impacts, affordability and regional development
  • Executive narratives connect strategic choices with credible evidence and uncertainty

Participants can convert strategic choices into governed priorities, measures and immediate actions.

  • Strategy-on-a-page links ambition, portfolio choices, capabilities and financial outcomes
  • OKRs translate strategic themes into quarterly outcomes and measurable key results
  • Transformation roadmaps sequence decisions, dependencies, owners and stage-gate criteria
  • RACI matrices clarify accountability across boards, executives, functions and partners
  • Balanced scorecards connect financial, customer, process and capability measures
  • Board reporting distinguishes decision-useful indicators from operational activity measures
  • Personal application plans specify a priority decision, stakeholders and next actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Energy transition strategy-on-a-page template
  2. Transition scenario and signpost analysis model
  3. Energy asset portfolio assessment matrix
  4. Renewable investment-case and revenue-risk checklist
  5. Climate and transition-risk register template
  6. 90-day strategic application plan

Who should attend

  • Energy Strategy Directors — responsible for portfolio choices and transition plans
  • Business Unit Leaders — balancing asset performance with long-term market repositioning
  • Investment and Finance Leaders — assessing capital allocation, project returns and risk exposure
  • Renewables and Infrastructure Managers — developing generation, storage, grid and hydrogen projects
  • Sustainability and Climate Leaders — connecting decarbonisation targets with financial strategy
  • Public Affairs and Regulatory Leaders — interpreting policy change and building constructive stakeholder positions

Skills and tools covered

Energy strategy formulationTransition scenario analysisEnergy portfolio managementRenewable investment appraisalClimate risk governanceStakeholder partnership leadership

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, GHG Protocol, IFRS S2, ISO 31000

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor briefings to establish models and decision criteria, followed by sector-specific case work, group analysis and facilitated discussion. Participants examine utility, renewable developer, oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure scenarios using market data, policy assumptions and investment inputs. Simulations test choices under price, regulation, technology and grid uncertainty. Each module builds reusable analysis components, and the final sessions convert these into an individual application plan for a live strategic issue.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial professional experience in energy, utilities, infrastructure, industrial decarbonisation, finance, regulation or sustainability. They should be comfortable reading business cases, discussing financial trade-offs and contributing to strategic decisions. Familiarity with energy-market terminology, project development or corporate planning is useful. The course does not require engineering design expertise, advanced financial modelling, prior renewable project experience or specialist knowledge of every energy technology. Pre-course reading introduces common market, policy and investment terminology used during the programme.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should already work in energy, infrastructure, industrial decarbonisation, finance, policy or sustainability and have experience contributing to management decisions. The course assumes business fluency, but not engineering design expertise or advanced spreadsheet modelling.

Participants should bring a current strategic issue, asset decision, transition plan or project proposal they can consider during the programme. A laptop is useful for live online delivery and recommended for classroom participants where organisational policy permits.

It is designed for managers and leaders whose work affects energy portfolio, investment, operations, sustainability, regulation, infrastructure or stakeholder decisions. It is particularly relevant for organisations managing both established assets and low-carbon growth opportunities.

Technical renewable courses concentrate on equipment design, resource assessment, construction or operating performance. This course concentrates on leadership decisions: portfolio strategy, policy, investment economics, risk governance, market structure and stakeholder alignment.

Participants receive templates for scenario analysis, portfolio review, investment-case challenge and transition-risk assessment. The final module produces a 90-day application plan linked to a real decision or programme in their organisation.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days move from strategic context and market forces through investment, systems, risk and stakeholder issues to execution governance and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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