COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has announced the addition of 16 new
industrial properties to its Quality Sites Program, which
identifies optimal project-ready sites for customer development
across its 11-state territory. The sites have undergone extensive
evaluation to ensure they meet AEP's stringent readiness standards
intended to minimize overall site location risk, save time and
reduce site development costs.
With its expanded portfolio, AEP currently offers businesses 42
sites prepared for industrial, data center and food processing use.
Three sites in Virginia,
Ohio and Oklahoma already have sold.
"Our Quality Sites Program streamlines the site selection
process for businesses by removing much of the guesswork and
legwork involved in finding the right property," said Mark James, CEcD and AEP vice president of
Economic and Business Development. "Expanding businesses can
benefit from our scale. The ability to access 42 sites across 11
states through one partner provides great efficiency to a site
search."
AEP partnered with Burgess & Niple – a leading site
engineering and architectural firm – to conduct in-depth reviews on
the 16 sites. Factors known to be critical for an industrial
development project were vetted, including the property size and
boundaries, the confirmed availability of utilities, highway
access, proper zoning for industrial usage, and transparency of
current land ownership and availability. In addition, sites have
been evaluated for any environmental, geotechnical and
archeological risks.
The other sites in AEP's Quality Sites Program were
independently certified by nationally-recognized site selection
consultants. AEP worked with McCallum Sweeney Consulting to certify
14 sites as project-ready for industrial development; Biggins Lacey
Shapiro & Company to qualify six sites that meet the necessary
requirements for colocation and enterprise data center users; and
Austin Consulting to certify eight sites that exceed requirements
for food processing, including transportation, infrastructure and
utilities.
AEP is actively marketing the sites on aeped.com and is
promoting them to site selectors globally.
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a
smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and
custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP's more than 17,000
employees operate and maintain the nation's largest electricity
transmission system and more than 224,000 miles of distribution
lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4
million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the
nation's largest electricity producers with approximately 33,000
megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including 4,200 megawatts
of renewable energy. AEP's family of companies includes utilities
AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West
Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky
Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power
Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy
Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide
innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide.
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SOURCE American Electric Power