Today, Chairman and CEO Ralph Izzo of New Jersey’s PSEG made an official call for an updated national transmission policy. PSEG’s press release reports:

“We need a national energy and transmission policy that maximizes the growth of renewables while minimizing the costs,” said Izzo.  He further called for a national renewable energy portfolio standard, a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and a transmission policy that does not favor one type of renewable project or location over another.

Izzo also came out against the proposal for a national transmission “superhighway”, saying that such an effort would end up just supporting coal plants. He said such a pipeline would make it easier for energy produced in the middle of the country to reach coastal states, currently leaders in renewable energy development (such as New Jersey, as it happens). Solar power plants and other clean energy sources count transmission and distribution as among their most serious challenges. Izzo wants to see a transmission policy that supports renewable energy generation without favoritism as to technology or location.

Izzo’s statement came during today’s Washington, DC Energy Daily’s Transmission Siting Policy Summit. His strong support for a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and carbon cap is in line with PSEG’s own efforts to boost solar energy within New Jersey: the state pioneered a true renewable energy certificate (REC) trading market as a way to incentivize solar adoption, one component of their approach to meeting energy and emission goals mandated by Governor Corzine’s state RPS.