To be able to lead a large-scale technological overhaul of the electricity generation sector and actively operate in energy markets, it is necessary to substantially increase the professional level of management. Moreover, there is no doubt that the social responsibility of power engineering as a vital infrastructure industry will only continue to increase, competition will intensify while the existing shortage of knowledge will grow. This is happening amid overall instability, uneven and chaotic demand for energy on the part of economic systems. On the other hand, energy consumers, investors and society as a whole are putting an increasing emphasis on reliability, pricing transparency and environmental impacts. The study provides substantiation and a new research and methodology platform for forward-looking education of energy managers. Its purpose is to equip professionals with knowledge and competencies that they will need for working in emerging technological and organisational and economic systems that will be based on new principles and will function in a turbulent external environment. The global energy education is used as an example of building educational content and methodology for the forward-looking training of future energy leaders.

The article considers the ways of increasing the sustainability of the energy sector in an unstable environment and technology modernization that implies radical structural transformations in the configuration of energy systems. The authors show that power engineering should be given a special emphasis in this context because it is the most stable branch of the energy sector in terms of its vulnerability to crisis. The article suggests that the processes of electrification that further technological progress and increase the innovative potential of a region's economy should be viewed as a driver forging a 'smart partnership' of power engineering and manufacturing. The authors analyze positive effects and price risks that emerge in the course of the implementation of electrification programs and use the analysis as a basis for their recommendations for developing regional electric power systems and effective relationships between utilities and consumers.

Increasingly dynamic, non-linear and all too often chaotic changes in the global environment and tougher competition, including at the geopolitical level, call for radical transformations in strategic management of the power industry. The article provides the results of a study into proactive actions of energy company management, which are becoming increasingly important. The article offers a framework of concepts relating to proactive management and sums up ideas of a number of authors on diagnostics of weak signals as possible harbingers of threats to sustainable power industry development. The authors have determined a general approach to mechanisms of threat identification and developed methodological principles of shaping a corporate management model capable of reacting to new challenges. The article provides a thorough study of some components of the model and an assessment of factors that ensure successful implementation of the authors' conceptual solutions in energy companies.

Electrification is an integrated continuous process of production, transmission, distribution and use of electric power in a region's economy. Analysis of global trends shows that demand for electric power as the most advanced and flexible energy carrier has been growing as many countries are in transition to a new industrial landscape. Along with that, the energy provision of industrial and domestic processes is becoming more intellect-intensive, while environmental issues are receiving special attention. This determines the relevance of the study.The authors have designed a methodology for factoring the environment into regional electrification programs. The methodology includes the following steps: ranking and selecting facilities to be electrified based on the criterion of minimal values of the 'electricity-for-fuel substitution coefficient'; application of the energy and economic effect to financially compensate for environmental impacts; introduction of demand side management programs that help improve the environmental situation in the region.An 'ideal' structural model of electrification is proposed for regions with high eco-loads. The model combines a method for selecting facilities to be electrified, pro-active energy conservation, adding more energy installations utilizing carbon-neutral fuels to the power generating system.