Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is New Jersey’s oldest and largest investor-owned utility company, having a history that dates back to 1928 when it was originally a subsidiary of the New-Jersey-based Public Service Corporation.
Today, PSEG’s operating subsidiaries include PSEG Power, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) and PSEG Long Island.
As part of its Powering Progress vision for the future, as outlined in its 2018 Sustainability Report, PSEG announced on Thursday that it expects to cut its power fleet’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2046, from 2005 levels. PSEG also announced its vision of attaining net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 assuming advances in technology and public policy.
PSEG announced it expects to cut power fleet’s carbon emissions by 80% by 2046, from 2005 levels & has vision of attaining net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 assuming advances in tech & public policy. Read more pic.twitter.com/GIzYMBh5LB
— PSEG (@PSEGNews) July 25, 2019
“Our gas (power plant) construction program is over. We do not have plans to purchase or expand the gas fleet,” Izzo said, reports Reuters, noting the company will shut its last coal-fired power plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut by June 2021.
The $30 billion utility provider plans to start shutting down coal-fired power plants while placing its bets on offshore wind energy and working to keep its nuclear power plants up and running. PSEG has no plans to build or acquire any more coal-fired plants – and this includes the company’s natural gas-fired power plants.
PSEG plans on keeping only three natural gas-powered plants through operating through 2046, including one in Sewaren, New Jersey, Keys, Maryland, which were completed in 2018, and in Bridgeport, Connecticut, completed earlier this year.
“If energy storage and advanced nuclear technologies come along and allow us to deal with the dispatchability limitations of renewables, then we can face the challenge of retiring the remaining gas plants,” Izzo said.
IZZO also said there are no plans to extend the licenses of its three nuclear reactors at the Salem and Hope Creek stations in New Jersey. PSEG’s Salem and Hope Creek nuclear generating plants supply more than 90 percent of the state’s emissions-free power. The operating licenses expire between 2036-2046.
PSEG also has plans in place to replace the missing energy generation, focusing on its $2.5 billion energy efficiency program and offshore wind and solar energy projects. “The goal is to make sure people are using as little energy as possible, that the electricity we generate is as clean as possible and that we electrify as much of the economy as possible,” Izzo said.
