March 15, 2008

Global Monitor (March 2008)

AEP ranks second in U.S. construction

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 the second-largest in the nation. Those rankings are based on capital invested, according to a November 26, 2007, report in Engineering News-Record. Only Alcoa had more construction in progress last year. In 2007 alone, AEP completed installation of advanced emissions-control equipment on 3,500 MW of coal-fueled generation and started and finished construction of a 340-MW gas-fueled power plant.

AEP's capital investments for generation and environmental retrofits in 2006 and 2007 totaled more than $3.8 billion. A significant portion of that total was committed to installing emissions-reduction equipment on AEP's generating fleet in West Virginia and Ohio. In West Virginia, the company completed installation of flue gas desulfurization systems, or scrubbers, to reduce SO₂ emissions and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions on 1,600 MW at the company's two-unit Mitchell Plant in Moundsville. AEP also installed a scrubber on its 1,300-MW Mountaineer Plant in New Haven.

In Ohio, AEP completed installation of a scrubber on a 600-MW generating unit at the Cardinal Plant in Brilliant. The Cardinal Unit 2 scrubber and associated projects totaled approximately $285 million. Cardinal Unit 2 is owned by Buckeye Power but is operated by AEP. AEP is finishing a second scrubber on Cardinal's Unit 1 that will be operational this spring. Cardinal Unit 1 is owned and operated by AEP.

AEP's newest power plant, the Harry D. Mattison Plant, located in Tontitown, Ark., also came on-line in 2007. Two of the four simple-cycle, natural gas–combustion turbines were operational in July 2007. Two additional units came on-line in December 2007. The $131 million plant was completed nearly a year ahead of schedule.

AEP's construction program will continue in 2008 as the company moves forward with work already in progress to install emissions-reduction equipment at three additional plants. AEP is installing scrubbers on three generating units at Amos Plant in St. Albans, W.Va. (Figure 5). It also has begun work on a third scrubber at Cardinal Plant and is installing a new scrubber, upgrading an existing scrubber, and installing an SCR system at the Conesville Plant in Conesville, Ohio. The Conesville Unit 6 scrubber upgrade will be completed in 2008. The new Conesville Unit 4 scrubber and SCR should be on-line in 2009. The Amos scrubbers will be completed in 2009 and 2010, and the third Cardinal scrubber will be operational in 2010.

5. Billions and billions. Scrubbers are being added to each of the three units at AEP's John E. Amos Plant in St. Albans, W.Va., as part of the utility's record-breaking investment in power plant environmental upgrades. Amos Units 1 and 2 are rated at 800 MW each; Unit 3 is a 1,300-MW unit. At a total of 2,900 MW, Amos Plant is the largest power plant on the AEP system and one of the largest in the country. Courtesy: AEP

Additionally, AEP will complete 340 MW of new simple-cycle, natural gas–fueled generation in Oklahoma in 2008: 170 MW at its Riverside Plant in Jenks and another 170 MW at its Southwestern Plant near Anadarko. The company also will begin work on a 480-MW, combined-cycle natural gas–fueled plant in Shreveport, La., and initiate completion of the 580-MW combined-cycle natural gas Dresden Plant in Dresden, Ohio. Both plants are scheduled to be on-line in 2010.

AEP anticipates finalizing approvals and beginning work on its proposed 600-MW baseload coal-fueled plant in Hempstead County near Texarkana, Ark., in 2008. The company recently received construction approval from the Arkansas Public Service Commission for the plant. Other regulatory approvals are pending. AEP continues working to obtain approval to build two 630-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle plants: one in New Haven, W.Va., and the other in Great Bend, Ohio.