COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Electric Transmission
America (ETA), a joint venture of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and
MidAmerican Energy Holdings, has formed a joint venture company with OGE
Energy Corp. (NYSE: OGE) to build and own new electric transmission assets
in Oklahoma.
The joint venture, Horizon Transmission LLC, will build approximately
170 miles of extra-high voltage 765-kilovolt transmission from the
Kansas-Oklahoma border north of Woodward, Okla., that will link into OGE's
station at Woodward and then extend west into the Oklahoma panhandle to a
new station that will be built near Guymon, Okla.
Southwest Power Pool's (SPP) estimated cost for the project is
approximately $500 million based on SPP's Extra-High Voltage Overlay Study,
but final costs will depend on the routing of the line, equipment and
commodity costs. Anticipated completion would be in 2013. AEP's ownership
share of the joint venture will be 25 percent.
"This collaboration with Oklahoma Gas and Electric will build a segment
of a larger extra-high voltage transmission highway that has been proposed
by the Southwest Power Pool to enhance reliability and support development
of the sizable renewable generation resources available in the region,"
said Michael G. Morris, AEP chairman, president and chief executive
officer. "Delivering power from the most viable regions for wind generation
to large population centers requires a bigger, stronger transmission
system. Long-term regional transmission planning as well as broad
allocation of costs will allow the Southwest Power Pool, and the United
States as a whole, to rely on more diverse generation resources in the
future."
"The Southwest Power Pool has recognized that EHV transmission can
reduce the cost of transmission investments, both economically and
environmentally," said Susan Tomasky, president, AEP Transmission. "One
765-kV line on a 200-foot right of way can carry as much electricity as six
345-kV single-circuit lines requiring 900 feet of right of way. And, the
765-kV line would cost less than half as much to build. EHV transmission
lines also operate more efficiently than lower-voltage lines, reducing the
amount of electricity that needs to be generated by reducing line loss --
electricity lost during transport. The new 765-kV designs that would be
used for this project have line losses of less than one percent, compared
with losses as high as 10 percent for a 345-kV alternative."
The ETA-OGE joint venture anticipates filing for the necessary state
and federal regulatory approvals for the project in the coming months.
ETA also has formed a joint venture with Westar to build 765-kV
transmission in Kansas that will connect with the OGE project at the
Kansas-Oklahoma border. The combined projects encompass the first two
phases of the Extra-High Voltage Overlay Study plan released March 3 by
SPP.
OGE Energy is the parent company of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.
(OG&E), which serves more than 765,000 customers in a service territory
spanning 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, and of
Enogex LLC, a midstream natural gas pipeline business with principal
operations in Oklahoma.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., based in Des Moines, Iowa, is a global
provider of energy services. Through its energy-related business platforms
-- PacifiCorp, MidAmerican Energy Co., CE Electric UK, Kern River Gas
Transmission Co., Northern Natural Gas Co., and CalEnergy -- MidAmerican
provides electric and natural gas service to more than 6.9 million
customers worldwide. MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. subsidiaries
PacifiCorp and MidAmerican Energy Co. own and operate more than 18,000
miles of electric transmission lines.
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the
United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in
11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity,
owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also
owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly
39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage
transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's
transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the
electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected
transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and
eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in
ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP's utility
units operate as 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 and east Texas). AEP's
headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
This report made by American Electric Power and its Registrant
Subsidiaries contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although the
registrants believe that their expectations are based on reasonable
assumptions, any such statements may be influenced by factors that could
cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those
projected. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: electric load
and customer growth; weather conditions, including storms; available
sources and costs of, and transportation for, fuels and the
creditworthiness and performance of fuel suppliers and transporters;
availability of generating capacity and the performance of AEP's generating
plants; AEP's ability to recover regulatory assets and stranded costs in
connection with deregulation; AEP's ability to recover increases in fuel
and other energy costs through regulated or competitive electric rates;
AEP's ability to build or acquire generating capacity (including the
company's ability to obtain any necessary regulatory approvals and permits)
when needed at acceptable prices and terms and to recover those costs
through applicable rate cases or competitive rates; new legislation,
litigation and government regulation including requirements for reduced
emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon, soot or particulate matter
and other substances; timing and resolution of pending and future rate
cases, negotiations and other regulatory decisions (including rate or other
recovery of new investments in generation, distribution and transmission
service and environmental compliance); resolution of litigation (including
disputes arising from the bankruptcy of Enron Corp. and related matters);
AEP's ability to constrain operation and maintenance costs; the economic
climate and growth in AEP's service territory and changes in market demand
and demographic patterns; inflationary and interest rate trends; volatility
in the financial markets, particularly developments affecting the
availability of capital on reasonable terms and developments impairing
AEP's ability to refinance existing debt at attractive rates; AEP's ability
to develop and execute a strategy based on a view regarding prices of
electricity, natural gas and other energy-related commodities; changes in
the creditworthiness of the counterparties with whom AEP has contractual
arrangements, including participants in the energy trading market; actions
of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings of debt; volatility
and changes in markets for electricity, natural gas, coal, nuclear fuel and
other energy-related commodities; changes in utility regulation, including
the potential for new legislation in Ohio and the allocation of costs
within regional transmission organizations; accounting pronouncements
periodically issued by accounting standard-setting bodies; the impact of
volatility in the capital markets on the value of the investments held by
AEP's pension, other postretirement benefit plans and nuclear
decommissioning trust; prices for power that AEP generates and sells at
wholesale; changes in technology, particularly with respect to new,
developing or alternative sources of generation; other risks and unforeseen
events, including wars, the effects of terrorism (including increased
security costs), embargoes and other catastrophic events.
SOURCE American Electric Power
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Related links:
http://www.aep.com/
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/042050.html/
CONTACT:
Media, Melissa McHenry, Manager, Corporate
Media Relations, +1-614-716-1120, or Analysts, Julie Sherwood,
Director, Investor Relations, +1-614-716-2663, both of American
Electric Power
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