After Texas rejection, utility pulls the plug on nation’s largest wind farm under construction in Oklahoma

Wind Catcher would have been the second-largest wind farm in the world.

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

AEP

Aerial view of the Wind Catcher site in Oklahoma’s Panhandle.

American Electric Power on Friday canceled construction of the largest U.S. wind farm in the Oklahoma Panhandle after utility regulators in Texas rejected the project.

The Ohio-based company started work on the $4.5 billion Wind Catcher project in 2016. By 2020, the wind farm was expected to deliver 2,000 megawatts from 800 turbines, which would have made it the largest wind farm in the country and the second-largest in the world.

Wind Catcher was awaiting approval from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission through the company’s subsidiary utility Public Service Company of Oklahoma. The project would have included a 350-mile transmission line to carry electricity from the Panhandle to a substation in Tulsa and onto customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

AEP pulled the plug on Wind Catcher after the Public Utility Commission of Texas voted unanimously to reject approval of the project, saying it didn’t do enough for ratepayers there.

“We are disappointed with the decision in Texas that resulted in the cancelation of the project. Wind Catcher represented an extraordinary opportunity to provide our customers with low cost, clean Oklahoma energy and create a positive economic impact across the state,” Steven Fate, PSO’s vice president of regulatory and finance, said in a statement.