SWEPCO plans stake in $4.5B wind farm
Southwestern Electric Power Co. expects to invest $3.2 billion in a $4.5 billion Oklahoma wind farm that will provide 6 million megawatt-hours of wind energy to SWEPCO customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
If approved, SWEPCO will own 1,400 megawatts of a 2,000 megawatt wind farm under construction in Oklahoma. SWEPCO will help build a 350-mile, 765-kilovolt power line from the Oklahoma panhandle to Tulsa to deliver wind energy to customers.
The proposed project, expected to be completed in 2020, should save SWEPCO customers more than $5 billion over the 25-year life of the wind farm, SWEPCO said.
The project, billed as the largest single-site wind project in the country, is subject to regulatory approval in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
-- David Smith
21c named top hotel by travel magazine
21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville was recently named one of the top hotels in the continental U.S. by Travel + Leisure magazine.
The hotel was ranked eighth on the publication's list of top 15 city hotels, which included hotels in New York City; Chicago; Seattle; Charleston, S.C.; and Nashville, Tenn. The Bentonville hotel opened in 2013 and features 104 rooms and contemporary art throughout 12,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The Surrey in New York City was No. 1 on the list, while the Alfond Inn in Orlando, Fla., was second. 21C Museum Hotel in Oklahoma City was third.
The World's Best is a travel awards program based on an annual readers' survey.
"It is an honor to have this opportunity to hear directly from our guests," Emmanuel Gardinier, general manager of 21c Bentonville, said in a statement. "It's obvious that they love the elements of 21c and the small-town charm of Bentonville as much as we do."
-- Robbie Neiswanger
State index falls 0.32 as ArcBest surges
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 0.32 to 356.11 Friday.
ArcBest Corp. shares jumped 25.4 percent on more than double its average volume.
Bank of the Ozarks fell 12.3 percent on six times its normal volume.
For the week, 13 stocks rose and five fell.
ArcBest had the best week, rising 25.1 percent.
Bank of the Ozarks fell 10.8 percent for the week.
Total volume for the index was 28 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 23.2 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 07/29/2017