The Pickens Plan proposes to generate up to 22% of the nation's electricity from wind and supports development of an extra-high voltage transmission system to facilitate that expanded use of renewable electricity generation. Extra-high voltage transmission is necessary to transport renewable energy from where it is most viable to the nation’s population centers.

We can’t significantly develop renewable energy resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and introduce competition for liquid transportation fuels without a well-designed, reliable national transmission grid.

—Michael G. Morris, AEP chairman, president and CEO

In 2006, AEP first proposed development of a national extra-high voltage transmission system, modeled after the interstate highway system, to more efficiently transport electricity, support development of renewable energy resources and enhance energy independence and national security. The company has proposed more than 2,600 miles of 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission projects to enhance the transmission grid, including a 1,000-mile transmission project that would link the wind-rich Upper Midwest with the population-rich East Coast.

If we want to do more than pay lip service to using renewable resources for electricity generation in the United States, we have to put in place a federal plan for an extra-high voltage transmission superhighway to move renewable energy from where it is most abundant and viable to population and electricity load centers. To rapidly develop transmission to support our renewable goals, we need federal oversight for siting and widespread cost allocation for these long-distance, extra-high voltage transmission projects. Without mechanisms to support faster deployment of a very efficient interstate transmission system, we won't be able to achieve renewable electricity generation at 20 to 30 percent levels.

—Michael Morris

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 US. AEP also owns the US’ largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other US transmission systems combined.

AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10% of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central US states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11% 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.