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Released August 07, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--American Electric Power Company Incorporated (AEP) (Columbus, Ohio) expects later this year it will increase its five-year capital spending plan by 30%, to about $70 billion. Industrial Info is tracking $20 billion worth of active and proposed projects from AEP.
"We are executing on our $54 billion capital plan and expect to announce a new 5-year capital plan this fall of approximately $70 billion," William Fehrman, chief executive officer of AEP, said in the company's recent second-quarter earnings call. "The incremental capital can be allocated with approximately 50% to transmission, 40% to generation and 10% to distribution." Under the pending capital expenditure plan, AEP Texas could spend about $7 billion on transmission.
Fehrman said the company would offer up more details regarding its revised capital plan as part of its third-quarter earnings results and conference call, but also noted AEP would discuss "some 765 kV [kilovolt] transmission projects." That high voltage makes for more efficient long-distance transmission.
In April, the Public Utility Commission of Texas selected AEP to build one of the state's first 765-kV lines. The Howard-Solstice Transmission Line Project entails building about 300 miles of overhead transmission line from AEP's Solstice Substation near Fort Stockton to CPS Energy's (San Antonio, Texas) Howard Road Substation near San Antonio. Industrial Info also is tracking a planned upgrade of the Solstice Substation to accommodate the new line. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can read more information on the transmission line and substation projects.
While this transmission line will support the expansion and electrification of the west Texas oil and gas industry and the region's communities, according to a company press release, AEP also is building out transmission lines to meet the load growth it expects to come from data center construction.
The company expects its utilities will add 24 gigawatts (GW) of new load by the end of the decade (already backed by signed customer agreements), up about 15% from its previous estimate of 21 GW.
Of the 24 GW, Fehrman said on the call, 13 GW are in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market, 9 GW in the PJM Interconnection and about 2.5 GW in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). In ERCOT, this includes about 5 GW in cryptocurrency operations and 2 GW in data centers, according to Fehrman. "Texas is clearly becoming the crypto center for us," he said.
The pending load in PJM includes about 3.7 GW of data centers in Ohio and about 3.1 GW of data centers in Indiana Michigan Power's service territory, Fehrman said.
AEP also is building out its transmission and distribution capacity in Ohio. This includes constructing a 345-kV substation (Celtic Substation) in Plain City and an accompanying 1.5-mile transmission line that would run to a tie-in point on an existing line, as well as rebuilding 36 miles of overhead, 138-kV line from the Millwood Substation in Howard to the Howard Substation in Shelby. Subscribers can read more information on the Celtic and line-rebuild projects.
The energy company also is keenly aware of the need to generate power, not just support its transmission/distribution.
"Demand for power is growing at a pace I have not seen in my 45-year energy career," Fehrman said in the conference call. "With AEP's generation requirements increasing to support capacity, this gives us confidence in our growing capital plan."
AEP is in the process of building out a major windfarm in Oklahoma in the SPP market area: the Wagon Wheel Windfarm in Kingfisher, which is designed to utilize 176 GE Vernova (Cambridge, Massachusetts) turbines to provide nearly 600 MW of generation, is expected to be operational next year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can learn more by viewing the project report.
In an era when legislative and permitting headwinds threaten the development of renewable generation across the country, Fehrman said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law on July 4 nonetheless "supports 100% of AEP's $9.9 billion 5-year capital plan for wind and solar generation, maintaining the required criteria to capture the full tax credits."
"Keep in mind that while our generation mix may vary, the load growth remains robust, and we will need future generation to service the forecasted demand. So any impacted capital would just be reassigned to alternative forms of generation assets at the back end of the plan."
Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.
Subscribers can click here for a full list of detailed project reports for active and proposed projects from AEP.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
"We are executing on our $54 billion capital plan and expect to announce a new 5-year capital plan this fall of approximately $70 billion," William Fehrman, chief executive officer of AEP, said in the company's recent second-quarter earnings call. "The incremental capital can be allocated with approximately 50% to transmission, 40% to generation and 10% to distribution." Under the pending capital expenditure plan, AEP Texas could spend about $7 billion on transmission.
Fehrman said the company would offer up more details regarding its revised capital plan as part of its third-quarter earnings results and conference call, but also noted AEP would discuss "some 765 kV [kilovolt] transmission projects." That high voltage makes for more efficient long-distance transmission.
In April, the Public Utility Commission of Texas selected AEP to build one of the state's first 765-kV lines. The Howard-Solstice Transmission Line Project entails building about 300 miles of overhead transmission line from AEP's Solstice Substation near Fort Stockton to CPS Energy's (San Antonio, Texas) Howard Road Substation near San Antonio. Industrial Info also is tracking a planned upgrade of the Solstice Substation to accommodate the new line. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can read more information on the transmission line and substation projects.
While this transmission line will support the expansion and electrification of the west Texas oil and gas industry and the region's communities, according to a company press release, AEP also is building out transmission lines to meet the load growth it expects to come from data center construction.
The company expects its utilities will add 24 gigawatts (GW) of new load by the end of the decade (already backed by signed customer agreements), up about 15% from its previous estimate of 21 GW.
Of the 24 GW, Fehrman said on the call, 13 GW are in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market, 9 GW in the PJM Interconnection and about 2.5 GW in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). In ERCOT, this includes about 5 GW in cryptocurrency operations and 2 GW in data centers, according to Fehrman. "Texas is clearly becoming the crypto center for us," he said.
The pending load in PJM includes about 3.7 GW of data centers in Ohio and about 3.1 GW of data centers in Indiana Michigan Power's service territory, Fehrman said.
AEP also is building out its transmission and distribution capacity in Ohio. This includes constructing a 345-kV substation (Celtic Substation) in Plain City and an accompanying 1.5-mile transmission line that would run to a tie-in point on an existing line, as well as rebuilding 36 miles of overhead, 138-kV line from the Millwood Substation in Howard to the Howard Substation in Shelby. Subscribers can read more information on the Celtic and line-rebuild projects.
The energy company also is keenly aware of the need to generate power, not just support its transmission/distribution.
"Demand for power is growing at a pace I have not seen in my 45-year energy career," Fehrman said in the conference call. "With AEP's generation requirements increasing to support capacity, this gives us confidence in our growing capital plan."
AEP is in the process of building out a major windfarm in Oklahoma in the SPP market area: the Wagon Wheel Windfarm in Kingfisher, which is designed to utilize 176 GE Vernova (Cambridge, Massachusetts) turbines to provide nearly 600 MW of generation, is expected to be operational next year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can learn more by viewing the project report.
In an era when legislative and permitting headwinds threaten the development of renewable generation across the country, Fehrman said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law on July 4 nonetheless "supports 100% of AEP's $9.9 billion 5-year capital plan for wind and solar generation, maintaining the required criteria to capture the full tax credits."
"Keep in mind that while our generation mix may vary, the load growth remains robust, and we will need future generation to service the forecasted demand. So any impacted capital would just be reassigned to alternative forms of generation assets at the back end of the plan."
Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.
Subscribers can click here for a full list of detailed project reports for active and proposed projects from AEP.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
