American Electric announces updated capital plan

The company said, “AEP‘s revised capital plan is based on customer commitments and the infrastructure needed to meet unprecedented power requirements, driven by large load customers including data centers and industrials. The confidence in the 28 gigawatts of load additions by 2030, up 4 GW since July 2025, is backed by Electric Service Agreements or Letters of Agreement and is supported by an additional 190 GW of load requests at various stages of development. The capital plan is one of the largest in the industry and is enabled by the company’s attractive service territory and the nation’s largest transmission system. AEP’s peak system demand is expected to surge to 65 GW by 2030, up from a current peak of 37 GW, highlighting the robust long-term growth that the company is experiencing across its service territory. To meet this opportunity, the company is investing $30 billion in transmission assets in the new capital plan. AEP’s pioneering transmission work, including developing the nation’s largest 765-kilovolt transmission network, has played a significant role in securing customers who need reliable delivery of large load power. AEP also plans to invest more than $20 billion in generation resources across the service territory in the next five years to meet the demands of customers in fast-growing regions. Nearly a quarter of the capital plan – $17 billion – is dedicated to AEP’s distribution network as the company builds on system enhancement programs.”