Renewable energy is expected to rise from less than 1 percent of its offering in 2011 to more than 5 percent in 2012. By 2020 it should account for 10 percent of AEP’s power generation.

In January 2012, AEP added 100.8 MW of wind power to its roster, bringing its total to 1,601 MW of wind power. Regulatory approval for a 49.9 MW solar project in Ohio is pending. AEP’s total energy generation capacity under contract from wind and solar is now 1,994 MW.

The amount of hazardous waste the company produced rose almost 72 percent from 2010 to 2011. In 2010 the company produced 1.53 million lbs of hazardous waste, recycling 10,661 lbs of such waste. In 2011 that figure jumped to 2.63 million lbs of hazardous waste, with 31,489 lbs getting recycled.

AEP describes the 2011 hazardous waste figure as “unusually large.” The figure includes 2.4 million pounds of fluid from the carbon capture and storage project at the Mountaineer Plant in West Virginia, the report says.

AEP’s metal recycling rates decreased 52 percent from 77 million lbs in 2010 to 35 million lbs in 2011. The company’s paper recycling rates also dropped from 1.96 million lbs in 2010 to 1.23 million lbs in 2011. The report doesn’t include any information on why these recycling rates dropped.