The CEO Forum: The Ultimate CEOs: Peter A. Darbee

Deck: 

Chairman, President, and CEO, PG&E Corp.

Fortnightly Magazine - June 2006
This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.

Fortnightly: How do current emission restrictions limit your options for plant development in California? Will coal ever be an option?

Darbee: The view right now that we have is that we can’t envision doing any coal in California from a philosophical or conceptual standpoint. What has been discussed is the possibility of integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) outside of California so long as it delivers on the same emission standards of natural gas, which is a high, high bar. That is something that has been discussed, for example, with Joe Desmond and the California Energy Commission, as a parameter for the Frontier [transmission] line. If we were to do it a requirement [would be] that any power going into the line coming to California would meet those standards. The approach we have taken thus far is we can’t see coal on the near-term horizon because of the emission standards we’ve identified.

Fortnightly: Of the 2,200 MW of power assets that you hope to build in California, what will be the fuel mix? And if you are using natural gas, how do you hope to manage the price impact?

This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.