COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has received approvals to enable the
company to acquire the entire planned 1,485 megawatts (MW) of wind
generation in Oklahoma. AEP will
invest approximately $2 billion in
this new renewable energy to serve its Southwestern Electric Power
Company (SWEPCO) and Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) customers.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission today approved a
settlement agreement that authorizes SWEPCO to add 810 MW of wind
energy to serve its customers. The Commission approved an option
that could increase Louisiana's
allocation to an estimated 464 MW from the original 268 MW, if
Texas does not also approve the
SWEPCO proposal. The Arkansas Public Service Commission also
accepted an option to increase its allocation when it approved the
project earlier this month. The project remains under regulatory
review in Texas, and SWEPCO will
continue to seek that approval to allocate some of this renewable
energy to benefit its customers in Texas.
PSO received final Oklahoma Corporation Commission approval
Feb. 20, 2020, of a settlement
agreement to acquire 675 MW of the project. The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) also has approved the acquisition.
"Today's decision by the Louisiana Public Service Commission
enables us to move forward with the North Central wind projects at
full scale and invest in low-cost wind energy to benefit our
customers in Arkansas,
Louisiana and Oklahoma," said Nicholas K. Akins, AEP chairman, president and
chief executive officer. "As AEP continues to add new clean energy
to our generation portfolio, this investment is expected to save
our customers approximately $3
billion over the next 30 years while supporting economic
development in our communities. We will continue to seek approval
to provide a share of this renewable energy to our SWEPCO customers
in Texas, as we believe the
projects offer significant benefits to customers across our SWEPCO
footprint."
North Central includes three wind generation facilities located
in north central Oklahoma. AEP's
SWEPCO and PSO operating units announced July 15, 2019, that they would seek regulatory
approvals to purchase the three wind projects. One project is
expected to be completed by the end of 2020. The other two projects
will be completed by the end of 2021.
AEP continues to make significant investments in renewable
energy to serve its customers. The company's regulated integrated
resource plans call for the addition of more than 8,000 MW of wind
and solar and 1,600 MW of natural gas between 2020 and 2030.
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a
smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and
custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP's approximately
17,400 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest
electricity transmission system and more than 221,000 miles of
distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to
nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is
one of the nation's largest electricity producers with
approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity,
including more than 5,200 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP's
family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas,
Appalachian Power (in Virginia and
West Virginia), AEP Appalachian
Power (in Tennessee), Indiana
Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of
Oklahoma, and Southwestern
Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas
Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners,
AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative
competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information,
visit aep.com.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aep-receives-enough-approvals-to-move-forward-with-1-485-megawatt-north-central-wind-projects-301066506.html
SOURCE American Electric Power