$4.5B project will create nation’s largest wind farm

Public Service Co. of Oklahoma and a sister electric utility will team up on a $4.5 billion project to take renewable energy from the nation’s largest wind farm in the Oklahoma Panhandle to their customers in four states, the utilities announced Wednesday.

The Wind Catcher Energy Connection project will involve 800 GE wind turbines at an underconstruction Invenergy wind farm straddling Cimarron and Texas counties in the Oklahoma Panhandle. A dedicated, 765-kilovolt tie

will be split between $2.9 billion for the wind generation and $1.6 billion for the generation tie line.

PSO will get 600 megawatts of the Wind Catcher facility, while SWEPCO will get the other 1,400 megawatts of wind capacity. With the additional wind capacity, renewable energy will make up 40 percent of PSO’s generating capacity by 2021. The utility already has 1,137 megawatts of wind — 22 percent of total capacity — through various power-purchase agreements.

PSO said the Wind Catcher project is expected to provide customers net savings of more than $2 billion over its useful life. Savings

include reduced energy costs and tax benefits from federal production tax credits. The dedicated tie line will ensure delivery of the energy without congestion costs associated with existing power lines in the region.

“PSO is very excited about this extraordinary opportunity to reduce costs for our customers by delivering to them highquality, very low-priced Oklahoma wind energy,” said Stuart Solomon, PSO’s president and chief operating officer. “At the same time, the Wind Catcher project will boost the Oklahoma economy, create thousands of new jobs and provide tax revenues for local governments. There’s never been a project like Wind Catcher, and we’re pleased to bring it forward for the benefit of our customers and the state.”

Invenergy, a Chicagobased power developer, started construction on the 300,000-acre Wind Catcher project last year. It’s expected to be the largest single site wind farm in the nation, and rank No. 2 in the world.

“Wind Catcher shows American leadership in bringing low-cost clean energy to market at a giga scale,” said Michael Polsky, Invenergy’s founder and CEO. “This project reflects Invenergy’s innovative spirit and unparalleled execution ability, and we are proud to be working with forwardlooking utilities like PSO and SWEPCO, whose customers and communities will benefit from this project for decades to come.”

Invenergy and PSO said the project won’t qualify for the state’s zeroemissions tax credit.

State lawmakers ended the incentive for new wind projects July 1 after concerns about its rising costs. The incentive offered a 0.5 cent per kilowatt hour tax credit that can be carried forward up to 10 years.

“This project is not dependent on any state subsidies,” Invenergy spokeswoman Mary Ryan said in an email.

The Wind Catcher project will use the latest model of GE’s 2.5-megawatt turbines. GE said the machine heads and hubs will be made in the United States, including components made in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

PSO and SWEPCO said the project will support about 4,000 direct jobs and another 4,400 indirect jobs during construction. It will have about 80 permanent jobs once it’s operational. Local schools and counties in the Oklahoma Panhandle will receive about $300 million in property tax revenue over the life of the project, PSO said.

The two utilities will buy the wind farm once it’s completed. Invenergy will operate the wind farm for the first five years.

“This is the largest single-site wind project in the United States,” said Venita McCellon-Allen, SWEPCO’s president and chief operating officer. “With a large-scale project at this site, we are tapping into one of the best wind resources in the country.”

The project will help SWEPCO move toward its goal of 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2034. It will take the utility’s renewable capacity to 29 percent, up from 9 percent. SWEPCO currently has 469 megawatts of wind capacity under long-term power purchases.

PSO’s share of the total investment is estimated at $1.3 billion. The utility plans to file an application next week at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission seeking approval to move forward with the project. The project also needs approval from other state regulators and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

PSO has about 547,000 electric customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. SWEPCO has 530,000 customers in western Arkansas, northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle. Both companies are units of Ohio-based American Electric Power Co. Inc.