Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), will receive up to 94.5 megawatts (MW) of wind-generated electricity under terms of a 25-year purchase power agreement announced today.
 
Under the agreement, PSO will receive 100 percent of the power generated by the Sleeping Bear wind project, a $130 million wind farm soon to be under construction near Fort Supply in northwest Oklahoma’s Harper County.  Plans for Sleeping Bear include the installation of forty-five (45) 2.1-MW Suzlon S88 turbines.  Commercial operation of the facility is expected in spring 2007.
 
“PSO is proud to participate in the Sleeping Bear project and help further our state’s position as a leader in the promotion and development of clean, renewable energy,” said Stuart Solomon, PSO president and chief operating officer.  “The addition of Sleeping Bear to our existing portfolio of renewable energy will be good for our customers, good for the environment and good for Oklahoma.”
 
PSO is the largest distributor of wind energy in the state of Oklahoma.  With the addition of Sleeping Bear, PSO will have 392.7 MW of wind energy under long-term contract.
 
The new purchase power agreement will not raise PSO customer rates.    Sleeping Bear was developed by Chermac Energy Corporation of Edmond, Okla., the only Oklahoma-based wind farm developer, with more than 700 MW of wind projects in Oklahoma and Texas; and it will be owned and operated by Edison Mission Group (EMG), which is part of the Edison International (EIX) family of companies.  Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., EMG is the fifth-largest owner of wind energy projects in the U.S. with a portfolio of 14 projects totaling 654 MW currently in operation or under construction in Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving approximately 514,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state.
 
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 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.  AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network than includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.  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).  American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is celebrating its 100^th anniversary in 2006.