US: Appalachian Power continues diversification of energy portfolio with new wind generation contract

The renewable energy will be purchased from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC.  The energy will come from its planned Bluff Point Wind Energy Center to be constructed in Jay and Randolph Counties, Indiana. NextEra will own and operate the wind farm.

The extension by Congress in November 2015 of the Wind Production Tax Credit provides cost advantages to wind energy resources constructed over the next five years and makes this agreement cost-effective for Appalachian Power customers. The new generation is expected to be available to Appalachian Power by 2018.

The purchase agreement has been filed by Appalachian in a request submitted June 1 to the Virginia State Corporation Commission for approval and inclusion in the company’s Renewable Portfolio Standard Rate Adjustment Clause (RPS-RAC) which allows the company to recover renewable energy costs not included in its fuel factor. A similar request will be filed at a later date with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia.

Appalachian selected the project as part of a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued earlier this year. The company received proposals from more than a dozen qualified wind farms.

Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP also operates 223,000 miles of distribution lines.  AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning approximately 31,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.