Southwestern Electric Power Co. and the state Public Service Commission have reached a settlement agreement clearing the way for a $4.5 billion wind energy project to provide power for electric customers in western Arkansas.
Swepco, a unit of American Electric Power Inc., had asked the PSC to approve the Wind Catcher Energy Connection, a project that includes a 2,000-megawatt wind farm in the Oklahoma Panhandle and a 350-mile generation tie line to near Tulsa, where it would tie in to the existing electric grid.
The deal involves Swepco, the PSC general staff, the Arkansas attorney general’s office and Walmart Inc. and Sam’s West Inc. The parties filed a joint motion Tuesday asking the PSC, which regulates utilities in Arkansas, for its approval after a deal was reached to provide several guarantees: a cap on construction costs, qualification for federal production tax credits, and the establishment of a minimum annual production floor for the project.
“We are extremely pleased with this settlement because it recognizes the tremendous opportunity the Wind Catcher project provides for clean, low-cost energy and long-term savings for Swepco customers,” Swepco President and CEO Venita McCellon-Allen said in a news release. “Wind Catcher will help companies, universities, cities and other customers meet their sustainability and renewable energy goals.”
Swepco serves 532,000 customers in western Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. It expects the project to save its customers more than $4 billion, net of cost, over the 25-year expected lifetime of the wind farm. Savings will come from the lack of fuel cost for the wind and the value of the federal tax credits, not to mention the low-cost delivery of power through a dedicated transmission line. Lower fuel bills for customers are expected as early as 2021.
Wind Catcher has been promoted as the largest single-site wind project in the nation, and is under development by Invenergy in two western Oklahoma counties. Swepco and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma have agreed to purchase the facility when it’s completed. At that point, renewable energy will comprise 26 percent of Swepco’s energy resource mix, up from the current 8 percent. The project is still subject to approval by several state regulatory panels and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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