Jan 18 2008
American Electric Power's aggressive program to install emissions-reduction equipment on its existing plants and build new generation facilities has grown to become the largest in the utility industry and second largest in the nation. The company's construction program was ranked the second largest in the United States and the largest in the utility industry, based on capital invested, in a Nov. 26, 2007 report from Engineering News-Record. Only Alcoa had a larger construction program during the same period. In 2007 alone, AEP completed installation of advanced emissions-control equipment on 3,500 megawatts of coal-fueled generation and started and finished construction of a 340-megawatt gas-fueled power plant.
"By the end of 2007, we'd completed more than two-thirds of the massive $5.1 billion program that we began in 2004 to reduce emissions from our existing coal-fueled generating fleet. We also built a 340-megawatt, natural gas-fueled power plant in Arkansas in record time. It's a testament to the diligence of our employees and the skills of the thousands of contractors who've worked with us that we've successfully managed one of the largest construction programs in the country and completed all of the work on time, or ahead of schedule, and on budget," said Michael G. Morris, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"These investments not only provide long-term environmental benefits by significantly reducing emissions from our coal-fueled plants, they also extend the environmental life of these low-cost facilities and revent the need to build thousands of megawatts of new power plants that would exponentially increase electricity prices for our customers. We still need new plants to meet growing electricity demand, ut equipping our current coal-fueled plants with the latest environmental controls prevents the premature retirement of these efficient facilities by significantly reducing their environmental impact.
"These projects also support local economies through the addition of thousands of temporary and permanent jobs and the development of new businesses, including the opening of local mines and, in the case of Moundsville, W.Va., the development of a new wallboard plant," Morris said.