Energy companies have increasingly been on the leading edge of development. The last few decades have seen major transformations in the way energy is located and produced. From alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydraulic, to conventional sources with advances in fracking, subsurface mapping, directional drilling, and many other developments, few industries have expanded their technical foundation more than energy.

Those things that improve competitiveness frequently generate tax benefits, including:

Reliable
Changes to facilities to increase reliability, efficiency, capacity, or to change feedstocks.

Plants
Designing new plants, or changes to existing plants.

Plans
Designing drilling plans for reservoirs to reach previously untapped potential.

Optimization
Optimization of existing plants to deal with changing.