Renewables

Indiana Michigan Power issues RFP for wind, solar projects

Indiana Michigan Power is now asking renewable developers to propose 800 MW of wind and 500 MW of solar power projects to help diversify its generating fleet.
Indiana Michigan Power issues RFP for wind, solar projects
(Source: Indiana Michigan Power Company).

Clarion Energy spoke exclusively with AEP President and CEO Nick Akins about the company’s renewables goals at the CERAWeek Conference in Houston.

WATCH:

Indiana Michigan Power is asking renewable developers to propose 800 MW of wind and 500 MW of solar power projects to help diversify its generating fleet.

The announcement follows a filing with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in February, detailing planned actions from the near future through the next 20 years.

From this request, I&M said it expects some of the new renewable resources to be online by as early as the end of 2024 and the full 1,300 MW online as early as the end of 2025. The RFP calls for solar projects within Indiana or Michigan. Wind projects can be in those states, as well as Illinois or Ohio. Bids are due April 21, and I&M plans to have contracts in place by the end of 2022.

A second RFP is planned for a later date, seeking proposals for about 800 MW of solar, 60 MW of battery storage and 1,000 MW from natural gas peaking units to meet system needs by 2028. Altogether, both solicitations would add new resources that would more than quadruple I&M’s current solar and wind generation capacity.

With the scheduled retirement of I&M’s coal-fired Rockport Plant by 2028, the natural-gas peaking units would generate power only during periods of high energy use and could potentially use hydrogen as a future fuel source.

READ: AEP gains court approval for modified plan to retire Indiana coal-fired units

Indiana Michigan Power is a unit of American Electric Power (AEP), which has a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and an interim goal of cutting emissions 80% from 2000 levels by 2030. Integral to AEP’s goal is adding approximately 16,000 MW of wind and solar by the end of the decade.



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