Tulsa-based Public Service Co. of Oklahoma owns six generating plants consisting of 17 units, all of which are located in Oklahoma; those generating units are fueled primarily by natural gas (87%) and by coal (13%). PSO owns a little over 3,700 megawatts of generating capacity said Daryll Jackson, PSO’s vice president of generating assets.
O&M expenses for power generation during CY 2020 were approximately $73.4 million, Jackson said. The average of PSO’s O&M costs in the three-year period of 2018-20 was $76.38 million, he said.
Additions to the company’s power generation system between Oct. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2020, included replacing inlet filters serving the evaporative cooler at the Comanche Station near Lawton ($5.4 million) and turbine inspection and seal replacement at Comanche Station ($1.58 million).
Comanche Station is a 248-megawatt gas-fired power generating plant that has a diesel generator which provides the plant with “black start” capabilities. If the plant is offline for some reason, or trips offline, and there is no electricity coming into the plant, the diesel generator is fired up and provides the power to bring the gas units online and provide power to the electric grid.
Besides its generating plants, PSO also maintains and operates 22,000 miles of distribution lines (approximately 16,500 overhead circuit miles and almost 5,500 underground circuit miles) and 3,700 miles of transmission lines; the voltage levels of PSO transmission facilities (both overhead and underground) range from 69 kilovolts to 345 kilovolts. PSO also is one of the largest distributors of wind energy in the state.