Southwest Ledger
DUNCAN - As AEP Oklahoma Transmission Co. advances construction of a $260 million transmission project across southern Oklahoma, the utility has asked state regulators for approval to build a new electrical substation in Stephens County to support a solar array.
The 345-kilovolt Vision Substation would be established in western Stephens County to integrate a new generator into AEP Transco’s transmission system. Crews plan to begin construction in summer 2026 and conclude by fall 2027.
“The requested in-service date is September 2027/’Jeff Ellis, transmission planning manager for AEP Service Co., told the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in pre-filed testimony.
The site for the substation is two parcels of land totaling approximately 155 acres southwest of the intersection of 122nd Street and Bois DArc Road, Gary L. McClanahan Jr. told the OCC in pre-filed testimony. He is a department manager and a project manager with POWER Engineers, an electric power delivery detail designer that assesses environmental effects associated with new electric transmission facilities and major energy development projects.
The project is intended to enhance area transmission reliability and support regional energy diversification.
AEP Transco is a subsidiary of Ohio-based American Electric Power. AEP is the parent of Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, which has 575,800 customers (residential, commercial, industrial and “other”) in 232 cities and towns in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.
A public meeting is scheduled Jan. 20 in Stephens County to explain the project, gather feedback, and answer questions from local residents and landowners, an AEP filing relates.
Transco reported it needs to replace 70 miles of a 43-yearold 345-kilovolt transmission line and “accompanying facilities” in Comanche, Stephens and Carter counties. Transco said the project will focus on the 345-kilovolt transmission line that extends from the Lawton Eastside electric substation to the Sunnyside substation near Lone Grove.
The lines are part of AEP’s broader effort to strengthen grid reliability while accommodating new, large-scale renewable energy generation in the region.
Construction is expected to begin this July and completion is projected within three and a half years, by December 2029, according to Nathan M.
Koch of American Electric Power Service Corp., another subsidiary of AEP.
AEP filed an application with the Corporation Commission on Jan. 5 that seeks authority to construct the Vision Substation, a “greenfield” facility designed to connect with a solar generation project.
According to Ellis, the Vision Substation will interconnect with PSO’s Lawton Eastside-Terry Road 345-kV transmission line. It also will “enable the integration of 250 megawatts of renewable solar generation” — a 200-MW solar generator and a 50-MW solar generator — into Vision Station.
A new 345-kV line terminal at Vision Station is to be installed with revenue metering and one slack span from Vision Station to a dead end outside the substation fence in order to interconnect with the Beaver Creek Solar Project, said Ali Abukar, senior project manager with AEP Service Corporation.
The proposed Beaver Creek Solar Project is described as a 200-megawatt solar facility with integrated battery storage being developed lay NextEra Energy Resources via its subsidiary, Rush Springs Solar LLC. The Beaver Creek project “is expected to go online by the end of 2028,” Marshall Hastings, NextEra Energy Resources spokesman, told the Lawton Constitution.
The solar project reportedly will cover approximately 800 acres of private land in Stephens County. The solar farm will represent “an investment of approximately $292 million, and over its lifecycle it is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in taxes that will support the local community,” Hastings said.
Company representatives told regulators the project is necessary to ensure reliable interconnection and longterm grid performance as renewable generation continues to expand across southern Oklahoma.
Mike W. Ray is a fifth-generation, award-winning journalist who has more than 55years’ experience covering municipal, county, state and federal government in Oklahoma and Texas.
He can be reached at mike.ray@swoknews.com.