The Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), part of the American Electric Power (AEP) group through AEP Service Corporation (AEPSC), has launched draft request for proposals (RFP) documents to seek up to 3.95 GW renewable energy generation capacity, preferably located in the state of Oklahoma, US.
This capacity needs to be delivered in the form of 1.35 GW of solar PV and up to 2.6 GW of wind energy. Solar energy projects need to have a minimum of 50 MW capacity to be able to enter the contest.
For 1.35 GW solar PV RFP, PSO will select projects that can achieve commercial operations by December 15, 2024 or by December 15, 2025. These need to interconnect to the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) on completion. Bidders need to submit an alternate proposal for solar projects with a battery energy storage system (BESS) which shouldn't be larger than 40% of the nameplate solar energy resource.
PSO has stated it won't be accepting standalone BESS proposals under this RFP.
Solar projects that qualify for the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) will be preferred for this RFP since 'the value brought to the Proposals in buying down the cost of energy by utilization of these tax credits is significant'.
Separately, it has also launched an RFP round for wind energy seeking up to 2.6 GW capacity, with each project having a minimum 100 MW nameplate capacity.
Formal RFPs for this capacity will be launched on October 15, 2021 with submission deadline as January 5, 2022.