Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) has received approval from the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) to proceed with its fuel-free power plan, acquiring up to 999 MW of renewable generation resources. The LPSC approved a settlement agreement reached on March 10, 2023, by all parties involved, with certain procedural conditions. This effort will meet power needs while protecting customers from energy cost volatility.
SWEPCO requires additional generating capacity to meet the energy needs of its customers due to new rules from the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). The SPP, including Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, mandates utilities to have available extra generation capacity for reliability.
Invenergy will construct one solar and two wind projects to be acquired by SWEPCO. These projects were selected through competitive bidding and are: Mooringsport (200 MW solar facility in Caddo Parish, Louisiana), Diversion (200.6 MW wind facility in Baylor County, Texas), and Wagon Wheel (598.4 MW wind facility spanning multiple Oklahoma counties, such as Garfield, Kingfisher, Logan, Payne, and Noble).
SWEPCO needs more capacity as its aging generation units retire. The retirement of these units will create a capacity deficit starting in 2023, reaching 1,574 MW by 2028. SWEPCO intends to explore additional opportunities for low-cost generation and capacity through further requests for proposals.
SWEPCO’s long-term strategy aims for more than one-third of its SPP-accredited capacity to come from wind and solar resources. Three wind farms in north-central Oklahoma already supply renewable energy to SWEPCO’s customers in Louisiana and Arkansas.
The LPSC’s decision, along with approval from the Arkansas Public Service Commission on June 1, allows SWEPCO to proceed with acquiring up to 999 MW of renewable generation resources.
SWEPCO serves over 551,000 customers across three states, including 125,992 in Arkansas.
