Research, Reports & Publications

American Electric Power Releases 2014 Environmental Performance Summary

Jul 29, 2015 12:25 PM ET

AEP’s 2014 Environmental Performance Summary highlights the diversification of AEP’s power generation portfolio along with investments in environmental controls that have resulted in environmental benefits.

Since 2005, AEP’s carbon emissions have gone down 15 percent while sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and mercury emissions also have decreased significantly. Emissions from AEP’s power plants will continue to decline as the company retires additional coal-fueled generating units and further diversifies its fuel portfolio.

By the end of 2016, AEP will retire more than 6,500 megawatts (MW) of coal-fueled generating capacity to comply with new environmental regulations and respond to weak electricity demand growth, aging infrastructure and continued competition from natural gas and renewables.

AEP’s power generation portfolio has steadily become more fuel diverse and balanced as the company has increased its use of natural gas and renewable resources to generate electricity, as well as investing in energy efficiency.  The company’s efforts include:

  • Increasing the use of renewables by 12 percent by 2026 (from 2005 baseline);

  • Adding nearly 5,000 MW of natural gas generating capacity to our power plant fleet since 2004;

  • Reducing sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by almost 80 percent since 1990;

  • Reducing mercury emissions by nearly 54 percent since 2001; and

For more information, view the AEP 2015 Corporate Accountability Report online http://aepsustainability.com/ or download the app in the iTunes store.