• Vistra CEO casts doubt on cost-effectiveness of US 2035 net-zero carbon target for electricity sector

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      Patrick Lavery

      Combustion Industry News Editor


Curt Morgan, the CEO of Texas-based Vistra, the leading independent US power producer, has told the Financial Times that President-Elect Joe Biden’s gal of achieve net-zero power production in the US by 2035 would be “prohibitively expensive” for consumers. Vistra itself has a 2050 net-zero carbon dioxide emissions target, set in September of this year, and has a portfolio containing mostly natural gas and coal, with some renewables, oil and nuclear. It plans to close coal plants and increase investment in renewables, and all together this gives Mr Morgan a good overview of the US power sector and its trends as a whole. In stronger language, he continued the interview with the FT by saying that Mr Biden “won’t be in office long” if he does not heed the advice he will receive from “serious people…talking about what is achievable and what’s not”. However, he continued to say that it is not that the goal is not achievable, but that “I just don’t think it would be in the best interests of the American people and the US economy to do it.” Mr Morgan’s words will not be the last spoken about the 2035 target.