Michael Polsky, founder and CEO of Invenergy, said on Apr. 24 that supporting transmission development should be the top priority for the administration as the United States faces rising power demand. “If I could only be allowed to give one [piece of] advice to the administration, what to do, what’s most important, I would say ‘support transmission development. Everything else will come,'” Polsky said.
Polsky’s comments highlight concerns about how to meet increasing energy needs in sectors such as artificial intelligence and manufacturing. He described interregional transmission as a technology-neutral way to deliver power where it is needed most and noted that this aligns with current White House efforts focused on updating energy infrastructure.
Invenergy is one of the largest renewable and storage developers in the country. Its portfolio includes significant projects in transmission, gas generation, and solar panel manufacturing. The company recently received attention when the Department of Energy announced a conditional $4.9 billion loan guarantee for phase one of Invenergy’s proposed five-gigawatt Grain Belt Express line from Kansas to Indiana. The first phase would run nearly 600 miles from Kansas to Missouri but has faced political opposition from Senator Josh Hawley.
Polsky also addressed broader policy issues by saying that federal regulators have not historically been proactive regarding large-scale transmission projects: “Perhaps the politicians have to take things in their hands and create some political enablers, legislation to support these initiatives,” he said.
He emphasized that while permitting reform is important, independent developers also need access to cost-recovery mechanisms so projects can reflect their resilience and reliability benefits. Invenergy currently operates 209 generation and storage projects totaling 33 gigawatts of capacity—about 20 percent from natural gas—and its project pipeline is valued at $150 billion according to Blackstone.
Polsky warned against eliminating Inflation Reduction Act incentives because doing so could increase consumer costs by making renewables more expensive and reducing competition with fossil fuels during a period of rising demand: “Dominance has to be with multiple resources…dominance means we have got to dominate in both renewables and fossil fuels,” he said.
