SWEPCO, Arkansas parties reach settlement agreement regarding wind power proposal

Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO), an American Electric Power company, recently reached a settlement agreement with the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) General Staff, the Office of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Walmart, Inc. regarding a proposal by SWEPCO to acquire 810 megawatts (MW) of wind energy.

SWEPCO filed the unanimous settlement agreement on Jan. 24 and is seeking final approval from APSC for the purchase of three wind generation facilities in Oklahoma.

“We’re pleased that the parties in this proceeding have carefully reviewed the proposal and reached an agreement that will provide more clean, low-cost energy to Arkansas customers,” Malcolm Smoak, SWEPCO president and chief operating officer, said. “This project supports our long-term strategy of renewable energy providing more than one-third of the resource mix serving our customers. In addition to the environmental benefits of wind energy, SWEPCO customers will save an estimated $2 billion over the 30-year expected life of the new facilities.”

SWEPCO is requesting approval to acquire the North Central Energy Facilities, a group of three wind facilities in north central Oklahoma, in conjunction with its sister company, Public Service of Oklahoma (PSO). SWEPCO would own 54.5 percent of the 1,485-MW project after investing $1.01 billion.