Photo courtesy Edison International
Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro hopes Congress will do more on transmission siting and permitting.
Why it matters: Pizarro, recently elected chair of the Edison Electric Institute, is at the forefront of the investor-owned utility world at a critical time in the energy transition.
- EEI recently named Dan Brouillette, President Trump's former energy secretary, its next president.
He recently sat down with Axios …
Power plant rules: Pizarro said some utility industry input was "reflected" in EPA's proposed power plant emissions rules, but he and EEI are critical of the agency's technological timelines.
- "The reality is, you have a coal fleet that's required to keep communities powered today," he said. "There's a recognition that there's going to be a timeline for those plants."
- But he doesn't think hydrogen and carbon capture — the technologies EPA is relying on to decarbonize fossil fuel-fired power plants — are ready for prime time.
- "The rule basically assumes that it's all available and you could be implementing it in the next decade at a massive scale. We don't see that in the cards based on where the technology is today," he said.
Permitting plans: Pizarro called the National Environmental Policy Act tweaks that Congress made in the debt ceiling deal a "good start" on permitting.
- Like others in industry, he wants time limits on judicial challenges.
- "Given that today it takes 11 years to build a transmission line — and about two of that is construction — we need more help to make sure that we can flow these IRA and IIJA dollars into steel in the ground," he said.
Speaking of transmission: Pizarro sees Joe Manchin's permitting bill as a "starting point" on transmission legislation.
- As Congress looks to speed up deployment, lawmakers should respect existing regional planning processes, he said.
- "Making sure that whatever we have at the federal level ultimately takes into account and leverages those regional planning processes is really important," he said.
Industry views: Pizarro acknowledged that investor-owned utilities have different perspectives based on their market. But generally, he said they agree that the U.S. is going to need to build more long-distance transmission.
- "We want to make sure that as an industry, we're not just saying what we don't like, but also coming up with good constructive ideas about things we can support."
