COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 10, 2009 – AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), has signed a power purchase agreement for renewable wind energy totaling 100 megawatts (MW).

AEP Ohio will purchase its energy from a wind farm in Benton County, Ind., that is being developed by BP Wind Energy and is projected to be operational at the end of 2009. The power purchase agreement is for 20 years. Pricing terms are confidential.

“This long-term contract will help AEP Ohio meet the renewable energy requirements of Ohio Senate Bill 221,” said Joe Hamrock, AEP Ohio president and chief operating officer. “We are pleased to take this significant step forward in providing renewable energy resources to serve our customers.”
 
In addition, AEP Ohio will be locating up to three, 200-foot towers in Morrow County that will collect long-term wind data to determine the profile of wind resources in the area, and analyze whether there is sufficient wind to generate electricity economically. If the tests indicate adequate wind resources, the company would consider developing a wind farm, subject to receipt of necessary regulatory approvals.
 
The test sites are being identified in the Shauck Ridge area in Morrow County, Ohio. These sites are the first step in determining the feasibility of a potential wind farm in the area. Testing combined with engineering, environmental and transmission studies could take up to five years before development of a wind project is green-lighted. Any proposed project would also need approval by the Ohio Power Siting Board.
 
AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP subsidiaries Columbus Southern Power Company and Ohio Power Company in Ohio, and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio.  The company serves all or part of 61 counties in Ohio and two in West Virginia.
 
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as 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 and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.