In 2012, Sam Newell worked on a project that would help define his career in energy consulting, advising Texas policymakers on investment incentives to ensure grid reliability. Rather than advocating for a single solution, Newell said he laid out the full range of options and their trade-offs for policymakers and stakeholders.
His report became widely cited and sparked a wave of follow-up assignments, but it also taught him a key lesson he’s carried through his career: The role of a consultant is not to prescribe answers, but to deliver rigorous, objective analysis that helps decision-makers navigate complex choices.
Now, Boston-based Newell is leading The Brattle Group’s 65-person electricity practice, advising clients ranging from utilities and infrastructure investors to regulators, tech companies, and system operators.
The Brattle Group has around 500 employees globally and specializes in financial analysis and litigation support for businesses and policymakers.
Demand has surged since 2024, when big data center projects were announced, driving five times the demand seen over the past two decades, said Newell.
What clients want to know is how to provide enough generation and transmission capacity, and how to price it, he said: “What you’ll hear is, how do you meet all this new load growth and do it reliably and keep electricity affordable for everybody?”
Much of his work now focuses on answering that question — from finding ways to get more out of existing grids using “grid-enhancing technologies” to advising large energy users on how to better integrate into the system.
Nuclear is also attracting growing interest, and The Brattle Group is working on a “nuclear master plan” for New York, tackling questions around how to expand nuclear and which financing structure to use, Newell said. There are “huge questions” about how to reduce the cost curve and which business structures will pay for nuclear plants, he said, adding that new nuclear capacity is unlikely to meaningfully add to US supply until around 2040.
Working in energy offers the chance to help build the infrastructure, commercial models, and regulatory frameworks needed to accommodate AI, said Newell.
“There’s more room to innovate now than ever, and actually a lot of the innovations are coming from the younger people,” he said.
