COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- While the
Public Utility Commission of Texas
today denied approval of Southwestern Electric Power Co.'s (SWEPCO)
plan to add 309 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to serve Texas customers, American Electric Power
(NYSE: AEP) has received the other regulatory approvals needed to
acquire the entire planned 1,485 MW of North Central wind generation. AEP is
investing approximately $2 billion to
bring new renewable energy to Public Service Company of
Oklahoma (PSO) customers and
SWEPCO customers in Arkansas and
Louisiana.
"We are disappointed that our SWEPCO customers in Texas will not be able to benefit from the
low-cost wind energy the North
Central projects will provide," said Nicholas K. Akins, AEP chairman, president and
chief executive officer. "The regulatory approvals we have received
in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and at the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission will allow us to move ahead with the North Central wind projects at full scale,
saving our customers in those states approximately $3 billion over the next 30 years. As we
transition to a clean energy future, our investment in the
North Central wind projects
supports economic and business development in our communities and
will help our customers meet their renewable energy goals."
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. The projects are expected to be completed over the course
of the next two years.
The Arkansas and Louisiana
Public Service Commissions approved the projects in May, and PSO
received approval from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in
February. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also approved
the acquisitions in February.
PSO will acquire 675 MW of the North
Central wind projects to serve its customers in Oklahoma. The Arkansas and Louisiana commissions approved options to
increase their allocations of wind energy if another state did not
approve the projects. With these options, an estimated 464 MW will
be allocated to Louisiana and 268
MW to Arkansas, while wholesale
customers will benefit from 78 MW for a total of 810 MW that will
serve SWEPCO's customers.
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, including North
Central, 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.
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SOURCE American Electric Power