New $100 million project in Shreveport will strengthen power grid in Louisiana, Texas
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American Electric Power, the parent company of SWEPCO, will invest $100 million to build a new transmission control center in Shreveport that will strengthen the power grid in Louisiana, Texas and beyond.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and American Electric Power CEO Nicholas Akins announced the project here Thursday.
The 77,000-square-foot facility will be built on 30 acres in the northwestern quadrant of the new 313-acre Resilient Technology Park, which is located near Interstate 20 and Greenwood Road.
“Louisiana residents know the importance of a stable, reliable utility system and the investments that American Electric Power is making in our state will increase the energy resilience of the entire Gulf Coast,” Edwards said.
"We believe this will be a magnet for other investments in Resilient Technology Park," Edwards said.
Edwards and Akins were joined by Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and other officials for the announcement.
“Assessing, monitoring and controlling the transmission grid and dispatching power plants is critical to keeping the power flowing to our customers,” said Akins, a Louisiana Tech University graduate who was once president of SWEPCO before being promoted.
“It requires access to high-speed data networks and reliable power. We are excited to be the first facility to break ground in Resilient Technology Park and to be able to showcase the investments that have brought fiber optic data lines and other critical infrastructure to the area,” he said.
The new facility will control operations of the company's transmission system in the Southwest Power Pool regional power grid and work in collaboration with American Electric's control center in Corpus Christi, Texas, to control the operations of the company's transmission system in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power grid.
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It will also support the real-time operational technology hardware and software required to assess, monitor and support all of American Electric Power's national transmission grid.
American Electric Power, which is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, owns or operates more than 60 generating stations across the country with a combined capacity of approximately 30,000 megawatts.
The Shreveport project will create 20 direct new jobs with average salaries of $115,000 and preserve 20 jobs already in place.
Construction of the site will begin immediately with the start of operations projected for mid-year 2023.
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SWEPCO, or Southwestern Electric Power Company, is the dominant electricity provider in the Shreveport market and also serves parts of Arkansas and Texas.
"American Electric Power’s investment in Shreveport with the development of a transmission control center gives our residents access to new high paying jobs and addresses long-term needs for our community," Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins said in a statement.
The state offered the company an incentive package that includes $1 million for infrastructure costs.
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: American Electric Power's Shreveport project will boost power grid
