PSO seeks OCC approval to add natural gas, solar generation and resiliency for Fort Sill

 

Public Service Company of Oklahoma has filed a request with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for approval of a project that would bolster energy reliability and resilience at the U.S. Army base in Fort Sill, Okla.

The project would provide more clean energy to the power grid, add to the safety and security of grid modernization efforts and increase energy supply diversity for PSO customers.

PSO announced June 26 that the company had signed a 30-year lease with the Army to install an energy resilience project on approximately 81 acres at Fort Sill, located near Lawton, Okla.  If approved by the OCC, the $117.9 million project includes the construction of 36 megawatts (MW) of gas-fired electric generation and 10.9 MW of solar panels.

While the proposed facilities would be located at Fort Sill, all of the energy generated would flow onto the electric grid to serve all PSO’s customers. In the case of an outage, the facilities could be isolated from the grid and provide enough power to sustain Fort Sill’s mission critical operations.

If approved, construction on the project would begin in fall 2021.  The solar facility would be operational in 2022, while the gas-fired generation would come online in late 2023.

Along with the initial 30-year lease, there is an option to extend for 10 additional years, under statutory authority 10 USC §2667.  PSO’s application includes a request for the company to recover the costs of the project.

Source: PSO press release