COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Electric
Power (NYSE: AEP) subsidiary Appalachian Power Co. has signed a long-term
power purchase agreement for renewable wind energy with Beech Ridge Energy
LLC, a subsidiary of Invenergy Wind LLC.
Through the 20-year agreement, Appalachian Power will purchase all of
the output -- between 100 and 147 megawatts -- from the first phase of the
planned 186-megawatt Beech Ridge Energy wind project currently under
development in Greenbrier County, W.Va. The wind farm is expected to be on
line by March 31, 2010. The agreement is subject to approval from the
Public Service Commission of West Virginia and extension for 2009 of the
federal production tax credit for renewable energy. Pricing terms are
confidential.
"Wind and other renewables are becoming an integral part of the diverse
power generation mix necessary to meet our customers' electricity needs,"
said Michael G. Morris, AEP's chairman, president and chief executive
officer. "Adding these renewable generation resources, along with our plans
for new baseload generation using clean coal and other technologies,
positions us to continue to meet our customers' needs while also reducing
our carbon footprint."
The new agreement is part of AEP's voluntary plans, announced in 2007,
to add 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy by 2011 as a component of the
company's comprehensive strategy to address its greenhouse gas emissions.
The addition of wind capacity to AEP's energy portfolio avoids an increase
in greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise occur if AEP used
traditional fossil generation to meet growing customer demand.
"The agreement with Beech Ridge Energy brings our long-term
renewable-energy purchase commitments up to 422 megawatts in the year since
we established our 1,000-megawatt goal," Morris said. "We have additional
requests for proposals out for up to 600 megawatts of renewable energy, so
we are well on the way to meeting that goal.
"When you add our wind capabilities that were in place prior to the
establishment of the goal (310 megawatts of wind generation in Texas owned
by AEP and 367 megawatts of long-term wind-energy purchase agreements in
Texas and Oklahoma), it's clear that our energy portfolio now includes a
significant amount of renewable energy," Morris said.
The agreement with Beech Ridge Energy is the third long-term
wind-energy purchase agreement for Appalachian Power, providing renewable
energy for use by its customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.
Last year, Appalachian Power announced two agreements for a total of 175
megawatts of wind energy.
"This is our third long-term agreement for wind energy, but it's the
first with a wind farm located in the states served by Appalachian Power,"
said Dana Waldo, president and chief operating officer of Appalachian
Power. "The agreement to purchase power from a wind generation facility
located in West Virginia is an important development for the state and for
our company. It aligns with a commitment to renewable energy made by West
Virginia Gov. (Joe) Manchin in a speech last week and with legislation
signed by Virginia Gov. (Tim) Kaine last year."
Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in
Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power).
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
(including the costs of projects that are canceled) 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 implementation of
the recently-passed utility law 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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