Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) has approved a proposal to add 170 megawatts (MW) of peaking generating capacity to the company’s Southwestern Station (SWS), located near Anadarko, Oklahoma.
 
The proposal is one of several submitted in response to a Request For Proposals (RFP) issued in September 2005 and is the second peaking proposal approved in less than a month.  The company announced March 6 that it had accepted a proposal to add 170 MW of simple-cycle peaking generating capacity to Riverside Station, located in Jenks, Oklahoma.
 
The SWS proposal is nearly identical to the Riverside plan, where two 85 MW natural gas turbines are to be installed.  Currently, the plant can generate more than 450 MW of power.  The addition will bring SWS’s total capacity to more than 620 MW.
 
The SWS peaking proposal is one of three “self-build” proposals submitted by PSO.  The Riverside plan also was a self-build proposal.  Both projects are scheduled for completion prior to June 1, 2008.
 
In addition to the peaking projects, PSO issued a RFP in December 2005, seeking up to 600 MW of new baseload generation to be online in 2011.  Bids submitted by the Feb. 16, 2006 deadline are currently being evaluated.  A decision on the selection of the winning bid is expected by mid-June.
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power, is an electric utility company serving approximately 511,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity.