TULSA, Okla., March 2, 2005 –The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) today approved an agreement allowing Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) to purchase up to 120.6 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Zilkha Renewable Energy LLC’s Blue Canyon II wind farm near Lawton, Oklahoma.  The agreement is for ten years.
 
“With this agreement, PSO continues to diversify its energy portfolio and solidify our position as the largest purchaser of wind energy in the state,” said Stuart Solomon, PSO’s president and chief operating officer.  “Also, it allows us to provide our customers with the environmental benefits of clean, renewable energy while not raising PSO customers’ rates.”
 
Zilkha will install sixty-seven 1.8 MW wind turbines to generate the power for PSO.  The company will begin construction later this spring and anticipates a commercial operation date for the new turbines in December of this year.
 
Michael Zilkha, co-owner of Zilkha Renewable Energy, said, “We are delighted to be working with PSO to provide the people of Oklahoma with a clean energy solution for many years to come, and we congratulate PSO on their environmental stewardship.  Zilkha Renewable Energy looks forward to continued investment in Oklahoma with this expansion at Blue Canyon.” 
 
With the 120.6 MW from Blue Canyon, PSO will have contracts for more than 226 MW of Oklahoma-generated renewable energy.    
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power, is an electric utility company serving more than 505,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity and offers some of the lowest energy prices in the United States.
 
PSO’s parent company, American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and is the nation´s largest electricity generator.  AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid.  The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.
 
Zilkha Renewable Energy is a Houston-based developer of wind energy projects.  Currently Zilkha is operating and developing projects in more than a dozen states.  In the past two years, Zilkha has built or announced construction of more than 400 MW of wind power and expects to commence construction of an additional 350 MW by the end of 2005.  Zilkha Renewable Energy is owned by the father-and-son team of Selim and Michael Zilkha.
 
(Note: Capacity figures have been corrected from original news release, which referred to 120 MW.)