Martinsville, Va., March 15, 2007 – Appalachian Power’s Patriot Centre Station is buzzing with flowing electricity, thus completing the company’s $6 million electrical upgrade in Henry County.


“The electrical improvements for our customers in this area are substantial,” said Mike Mercier, manager distribution systems. “Energizing this station reduces the exposure, or risk of an outage, by about one third for customers in the Bowles and Patriot Centre Industrial Parks.”
 
Appalachian Power started construction on the Patriot Centre in June 2005.  The company tapped into its nearby 138 kilovolt (kV) transmission system and built a new three-mile, 138 kV line to serve the new station. The station receives the 138 kV voltage and transforms it to 34.5 kV.  
 
Appalachian worked closely with Henry County officials to not only improve the electric service in the county, but to do it in a way that kept an eye toward the future, said Ronald Jefferson, external affairs manager.
 
“Henry County officials have done a great job in attracting new businesses to these industrial parks, and Appalachian Power and the new Patriot Centre Station are poised to support that growth,” said Jefferson.  “One of the biggest benefits of the new station is its location. It is located toward the back of the park, in an area that will prove beneficial when the industrial park expands.”

Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.  It is a unit of American Electric Power, the nation’s largest electricity generator.  AEP owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity and is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states.
 
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