Need for resilience and security Economic & competitive pressuresDecarbonization mandate Exponential data growth74% 52%39% 39%48% 26%55%23%3% 10%13% 19% High Moderate LowKey factors driving quantum technology adoption FIGURE 3 Source: Community survey, World Economic Forum’s Quantum for Energy and Utilities Working Group, February 2026.1.2 What is pushing quantum technology adoption in energy and utilities? Several market signals are accelerating quantum- readiness efforts in energy and utilities, and they are concrete rather than speculative. The US Department of Energy has warned that, under certain capacity retirement and load growth scenarios, blackout risk could rise sharply by 2030, while outages already cost US businesses about $150 billion annually. At the same time, cybersecurity threats are intensifying: industry threat intelligence reports indicate that 70% of 2024 attacks involved critical infrastructure, underscoring the need for long-lived protections across grid and operational technology systems. The most immediate quantum-linked step is the transition to post-quantum cryptography, as the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalizes standards and migration guidance. Given long asset lifecycles, the “harvest now, decrypt later” risk2 makes early planning essential. Rapid digitization also adds complexity, with global smart meter deployments projected to exceed 3 billion by 2030. This expands forecasting and optimization workloads, such as weather-dependent renewable load balancing, and motivates tightly scoped quantum or hybrid pilots benchmarked against classical high-performance computing.3,4 Community insights for drivers of technology adoption Quantum adoption in energy and utilities is primarily driven by resilience and security imperatives, with economic and competitive pressure as a secondary accelerator. Decarbonization and increasing data volumes are also recognized as important factors. Beyond these key drivers, the community highlights sovereignty concerns, safety and risk modelling, optimization of resource demand, and mastering the complexity of future energy systems and quantum simulation for battery chemistry as emerging key factors for future quantum adoption. Quantum for Energy and Utilities: Key Opportunities for Energy Transition 7

Quantum for Energy and Utilities 2026