AEP Retirees & Alumni

The “Power Shark” circles its opponents during the United Way of Elkhart County’s ninth annual Cardboard Boat Race.

(Story by Schnee Garrett)

ELKHART, Ind. — Will it sink or will it float? That was the ultimate question for several Indiana Michigan Power employees who competed in the United Way of Elkhart County’s ninth annual Cardboard Boat Race. The race was at the LaSalle Bristol pond in Elkhart.

For weeks prior to the race,  the Elkhart Service Center line department and a group of Customer Design Engineers from the South Bend Service Center constructed their boats. The vessel from Elkhart was named the “Power Shark” and “The Indefatigable” represented South Bend.

This year, the United Way of Elkhart County had a record-breaking 52 boats enter the race. Teams competed in several heats with the winning cardboard boat advancing to the championship race. Several I&M employees came out to cheer on their co-workers in the water.

I&M’s first boat in the water was “The Indefatigable,” paddled by Myron Stutzman and Matt Boland. The pair, representing South Bend, completed a lap around the pond but came in second. A few heats later, it was Jared Stork and Nate Jacob’s turn to get into the water with the “Power Shark.” The boat held up in the water, but the Elkhart team came in second.

However, both teams had one more battle in the pond. All of the cardboard boats that didn’t win their heat and could still float were invited back into the water for one final race. The I&M teams were looking to not just win the heat, but for bragging rights as well. In the race towards the final green buoy, “The Indefatigable” beat the “Power Shark.”

Both barns plan to create a new boat and compete next year. The event is touted as the largest cardboard boat race in the Midwest and is one of the largest fundraisers for the United Way of Elkhart County. The money raised will go towards helping several community partners in the area including the Boys and Girls Club of Elkhart County and the American Red Cross.

(Story by Peter Main)

Flint Creek Power Plant in Gentry, Ark., has been awarded Conservation Certification by the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) in recognition of the plant’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

American Electric Power received the certification for its SWEPCO power plant’s habitat enhancement programs, including tallgrass prairie restoration, nesting boxes and other bird habitat improvement, and pollinator garden landscapes.

“The Flint Creek Power Plant is recognized as meeting the strict requirements of WHC Conservation Certification,” said Margaret O’Gorman, WHC president. “Companies achieving WHC Conservation Certification, like AEP SWEPCO, are environmental leaders, voluntarily managing their lands to support sustainable ecosystems and the communities that surround them.”

Flint Creek was designated as Certified Silver, signifying leadership among the over 700 WHC Conservation Certification programs. Programs are given a Certified, Silver Certified or Gold Certified designation. Flint Creek has held certification under the WHC’s Corporate Lands for Learning and Wildlife at Work programs since 2004 and 2002, respectively, and since 2016 when the two programs were combined into the Conservation Certification.

“We are extremely proud of the long-standing environmental stewardship efforts by our team at Flint Creek, as well as the community partnerships that have grown up around that stewardship,” said Malcolm Smoak, SWEPCO president and chief operating officer.

Flint Creek Plant Manager Carl Handley said, “We’re pleased that the Wildlife Habitat Council has again recognized our company and employees for their work to enhance the environment and provide great learning opportunities for the community. Retired Flint Creek chemist Terry Stanfill has continued to spearhead many of our efforts.”

Approximately 700 acres of the power plant’s 1,600 acres are designated as wildlife habitat. The site for many activities is Flint Creek’s 65-acre Eagle Watch Nature Trail, which includes a half-mile walking trail and two wildlife viewing pavilions. Built in 1999 on SWEPCO Lake, the power plant’s cooling reservoir, Eagle Watch is located on Hwy. 12 one mile east of Gentry. It is open to the public at no charge year-round.

Although wintering bald eagles are the main attraction at Eagle Watch, more than 180 bird species have been identified. Mammals in the area include foxes, deer and beaver. Reptiles and amphibians include various species of lizards, turtles, snakes, toads and frogs. The pavilions include plant and animal identification displays.

AEP CEO Nick Akins (right) responds to a question from stock analyst Jim Cramer on CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” program.

Nick Akins, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer, appeared on CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” program August 16 and discussed AEP’s second-quarter financial results, the Wind Catcher renewable energy project and more with the show’s host, stock analyst Jim Cramer.

View the video.

Referring back to AEP’s second-quarter earnings report, Cramer noted that the company was on target with its 5-to-7 percent earnings growth projections following a strong second quarter.

“The investment plan our company has will continue to grow. We’re at a 5-to-7 percent growth rate, and this last quarter we extended the capital forecast to 2021 to really show the markets we were intent on that 5-to-7 percent growth rate,” Akins said. “The ability for us to invest in transmission, the ability to invest in the changing energy environment related to the way we provide our energy services is a very positive aspect of our business.”

Turning to the recently cancelled Wind Catcher renewable energy project, Akins told Cramer the company thought Wind Catcher had a number of benefits for the company and customers, but AEP has maintained its strong core business and is moving on to other projects.

“We felt like it was a great project, but from the outset we said our commissions have to approve these projects. It was a unique project, a large investment in western Oklahoma,” Akins said. “We were disappointed, but at the same time, we have a firm foundation for our company with the capital investments we can make regardless of Wind Catcher. Now we’ll focus on smaller investments of renewables to replace it. It’s just one of those aspects of our business. We’ll have projects, we’ll have opportunities, some will go, some won’t go, but it’s all built around a firm foundation and our ability to be selective on projects we can move forward.”

Cramer noted that AEP has been striving to reduce its carbon footprint over the last several years and he asked Akins if he was able to reconcile that effort with what happened with Wind Catcher.

“Wind Catcher was one of those projects where we were getting out ahead of our resource plans. We file individual resource plans in all 11 of the jurisdictions we serve and there is small capacity that you build — small wind farms and solar and so forth — that are in those plans,” Akins answered. “This was a unique opportunity to get out ahead in many of those aspects. That being said, the risk parameters around this project became such that we had to really quantify those risks. It was great for customers but we also wanted to make sure it was great for investors. So we go with the project, go through the approvals, the project doesn’t move forward but we still continue with our resource plans for smaller projects that will fill the gap.”

Switching to the economy, Cramer wanted to know where AEP is seeing the most growth.

“We have big markets in Texas and in the Midwest. In the states we serve in the south central U.S., along with the Midwest, the energy economy is certainly substantial,” Akins reported. “We’re growing higher than the GDP (growth domestic product) of the country. Our income growth continues to be there, job creation continues to be there. Residential, commercial and industrial load in particular continues to improve, so the fundamentals of the area of the country we serve are very positive.”

In today’s energy environment, Cramer wondered if anyone would take on the risk of building another nuclear plant.

“In today’s environment, where technology is going and where natural gas prices are, it’s a significant challenge to build a large, central station generation facility and take on that amount of risk,” Akins said. “Hats off to Southern (Company) for moving that process forward relative to nuclear but, at the same time, when we look at it from an investment thesis, we have the largest transmission system, multiple sets of projects, and projects that are emerging on the distribution side relative to distributed energy resources. The magnitude of the small projects add up to much less risk for investors, so when we look at the future in terms of investment, with distributed energy resources, with where technology is going, from a transmission standpoint, those are investments we can make that minimize risk not only to our customers but to our shareholders, as well.”

So how does the advent of electric vehicles factor into the whole energy equation?

“We see it as sales channel growth for the utility industry,” Akins said. “We announced today (August 16) that charging stations will be built around the Ohio area and that’s a major effort on our part to ensure that the infrastructure is there to support electric vehicles. Currently, we sell the electricity to electric vehicles but it’s also an avenue for transportation to make sure there is accessibility for everyone without having to go to a gas station, for example.”

Accepting the Hall of Fame recognition in Charlotte for AEP and Appalachian Power were, from left, Henry Parker, James Thrasher and Rob Gallimore of hydro operations, with Marla Barners of HydroVision International.

(Story by John Shepelwich)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Appalachian Power’s Byllesby hydroelectric plant was inducted as part of the 23rd class of the Hydro Hall of Fame in late June during the keynote session of HydroVision International 2018.

The hall of fame recognizes extraordinary achievements internationally and has an emphasis on longevity. To be eligible, plants must have been in continuous operation for more than a century.

Since 1995, the award has recognized 48 legacy hydropower plants around the world.

Accepting the award for AEP and Appalachian in Charlotte were Rob Gallimore, James Thrasher and Henry Parker, all part of the company’s hydro management team.

The 21.6 megawatt (MW) Byllesby plant is located on New River in southwestern Virginia, about 60 miles from Roanoke. Completed in 1912, the plant was named for H.M. Byllesby, a Chicago investor who helped start Appalachian Power Company.

The plant has four generating units. When commissioned, it supplied some of the first electric power to the area with about 1,500 customers in its first year of operation.  Its sister plant, the Buck hydro plant, is located just downstream on New River and was also completed in 1912.

The Byllesby plant is awaiting PJM approval for newly-installed four megawatt energy storage battery system at the site that will provide regulation services to the PJM Interconnection. It is expected to be the first hybrid system of its kind.

The plant is currently undergoing construction work for the installation of some new dam gates.

Other inductees into the hall of fame this year were the 24.6 MW Blewett Falls plant in North Carolina, the 108.8 MW Narrows plant in North Carolina, the 66 MW Upper Bonnington Generating Station in Canada, and the 17.6 MW Miljacka plant in Croatia.

HydroVision international is the world’s largest conference and exhibition dedicated to global hydro, marine energy, dams and civil markets.

It draws about 3,000 attendees representing more than 50 countries.

AEP has been named on a new list of the best places to work for women.

Forbes’ inaugural look at the nation’s best employers for women includes 300 corporations, universities and organizations. The magazine came up with the ranking working with market research company Statista by anonymously surveying 40,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees.

Respondents were first asked to rate their organizations on criteria such as working conditions, diversity and how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others. These responses were reviewed for potential gender gaps. So if women, for example, rated an organization poorly on diversity, but men rated it highly, Statista would take that into account and adjust the company’s score accordingly. Statista then asked female respondents to rate their employers on factors such as parental leave, discrimination and pay equity. These respondents were also asked to nominate organizations in industries outside their own. The final list ranks the 300 employers that both received the most recommendations and boast the most gender diverse boards and executive ranks.

“Over the past five years, the work of all of our employees on our cultural transformation broadly with a focus on diversity and inclusion has led to us being named to this prestigious list of companies,” said Lana Hillebrand, executive vice president and chief administrative officer. “While we still have much work to do, being named on the list of best places to work for women validates that we are heading in the right direction as we continue our transformation to the utility company of the future.”

AEP ranked No. 193 overall and was third on the Forbes list in the Utilities category behind Sacramento Municipal Utility District (No. 146) and Consumers Energy (No. 151).

The No. 1 company on this list was Principal Financial Group, an investment management and insurance firm based in Des Moines, Iowa.