PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF OKLAHOMA
PSO and University of Tulsa Team Up On Solar Project

The University of Tulsa will soon be receiving power from solar energy, thanks to a first-of-its-kind partnership between the university and Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO).

Under the terms of an agreement signed earlier this spring, PSO will own and maintain a 300-kilowatt solar panel array which will be installed on the roof of TU's Case Tennis Center.  The university will lease the panels from PSO and use the electricity they generate to supply power to the Case Center.

"PSO is proud to work with an innovative and forward thinking partner like The University of Tulsa to bring this new, renewable technology online," said Stuart Solomon, PSO president and chief operating officer.  "Solar power will be an increasingly important part of our energy mix in the future, and this project is an important first step in that transition."

The 936 polycrystalline photovoltaic panels being installed are expected to produce up to 400,000 kilowatt-hours of energy a year.  It would take 70 typical residential rooftop solar installations to produce that much energy.  To maximize energy production throughout the day, approximately half of the panels will be installed facing east and the other half will face west.

"The University of Tulsa was recently named the greenest college in the state, and we are eager to take our sustainability efforts to even greater heights.  By utilizing solar energy, we have begun exploring another way to lessen our campus' carbon footprint - a move that's important to our TU family," said Kevan Buck, TU's executive vice president and treasurer.

Energy technologies and services provider, Power Secure LLC, has been contracted to coordinate engineering, procurement and construction work on the project.  Construction of the framework and installation of the panels is expected to begin this summer and be in service and generating electricity for TU by September.

PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 544,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, PSO has nearly 3,800 megawatts of generating capacity and is one of the largest distributors of wind energy in the state.