Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), has signed a 30 year lease with the U.S. Army for siting of an energy resilience project at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The proposed project is the result of collaboration between the Army and PSO. Benefits of the project’s design include the addition of more clean energy to the power grid, and enhanced power quality and energy supply in southwest Oklahoma. It’s also designed to add resilience to the Army with the ability to supply 100% of the power needed to sustain Fort Sill’s critical missions for at least 14 days, through a combination of natural gas fired reciprocating internal combustions engines (RICE) and Photovoltaic Solar (PV Solar) energy, during a commercial grid outage.
PSO plans to seek approval from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) this year. Construction is projected to begin in fall 2021.
The proposed energy reliability and resilience project on Fort Sill is an excellent example of collaboration to modernize infrastructure and provide assured access to diverse supplies of energy.
The proposed project will include a 30-year lease term with an option to extend for 10 additional years, under statutory authority 10 USC §2667, for approximately 80 acres at Fort Sill.
About PSO
Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 557,000 customer accounts across 30,000 square miles in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, PSO has nearly 3,800 megawatts of primarily gas-fired generating capacity, 22,000 miles of distribution lines, 3,700 miles of transmission lines, and is one of the largest distributors of wind energy in the state. Find news releases and other information at psoklahoma.com. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @PSOklahoma.
About AEP
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP's approximately 18,000 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest electricity transmission system and more than 219,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation's largest electricity producers with approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including about 5,200 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP's family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.
About U.S. Army Garrison Fort Sill
U.S. Army Garrison Fort Sill, Oklahoma integrates and delivers installation support to enable a mission-ready Fires’ force and military community. Located about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, it is a hub of Joint and multinational partnered training.