he teamwork happens across internal corporate hierarchies and geographic boundaries. It involves colleagues large and small. And it's based on sharing data that is deep and detailed.
      In other words, peak performance in economic development by utilities directly correlates to how the corporations they seek to please also perform.
      As Ed McCallum, senior principal for site selection consultancy McCallum Sweeney, puts it, "There is no one single economic development organization that can completely fulfill the information needs and project execution aspects of any site selection endeavor. The ones that consistently win over and over again are the ones that see themselves as part of something bigger, a team player if you will."
      Why are utilities so essential to that team?
      "In the most obvious situation the reliability, capacity and cost of electricity is an important part of the site selection process," says Daniel Levine, executive director, location & incentive services, for ADP Inc. "In addition, utilities are often perceived to be an unbiased source of information – particularly when competing communities are located within the same franchise territory. Finally, utilities often have the most comprehensive databases of available properties, and it is much easier to maintain confidentiality with a utility when doing property searches than it is when a real estate brokerage firm is involved."       McCallum and Levine were among a handful of prominent site selection professionals consulted by Site Selection for this year's ranking of the top utilities in economic development. Like those whose work we were examining, we sought to cast a wider net. Our evaluation also took into account corporate facility project data in the Conway Data New Plant Database, our annual utility questionnaire, Web site tools and functionality and innovative programming.
      Finally, we took a look at utilities as project creators in their own right: Which were out there – again, like the companies they seek to serve – taking the chance and making the investments in generation and transmission projects, plant upgrades and renewable energy? Two of our award winners embarked on just such a joint venture as we went to press: At a cost of $1 billion, Duke Energy and AEP will build 240 miles of extra-high voltage 765-kilovolt transmission lines and related facilities in southern Indiana. In July, AEP, via its joint venture with MidAmerican Energy, embarked on a similar project with OGE Energy in western Oklahoma.
      According to a January 2008 report from the Edison Electric Institute, in 2006, a total investment of $6.9 billion was made in transmission projects, and EEI member companies planned to invest an additional $37 billion in the transmission system from 2007 to 2010, a 55-percent increase over the previous four-year period. As for generation investment, according to the Energy Information Administration, to satisfy the expected 1.5-percent annual growth in electricity demand through 2030, 258 gigawatts of new generating capacity will be needed, at a cost of approximately $412 billion (in 2005 dollars). That means between 250 and 500 new baseload power plants.
      Speaking at the summer meeting of the Utility Economic Developers Association in Cleveland this summer, Tony Alexander, CEO of FirstEnergy (another of our award-winners this year) wished his fellow CEOs good luck with that one.
      "It's time to begin an infrastructure replacement program, but construction costs have more than doubled since 2000," he said. "Worldwide demand leads to continued tightness in equipment markets. Even for simple parts that we used to take for granted, we're getting into five to seven years. If you don't make decisions tomorrow, you may not get it until 2017."
      As debate continues over whether to build new nuclear generation, for example, construction cost estimates for such plants have begun to approach $6 billion each. And even as the dollar weakens, 30 percent of a power plant's components and parts have to be sourced outside the U.S., engineering talent is headed toward retirement and "we can't find a welder in the State of Ohio," he said. "The issues this industry faces from an infrastructure standpoint may be as big as they've ever been," he said.       In the meantime, corporate end users sometimes have to be reminded that they're part of the team too.
      "Utilities have a lot to add, provided they are given sufficient information so that they can actually provide assistance," says Ed McCallum. "Information on load factors, power factors, redundancy requirements, interruption and cycle sensitivity and so forth must be provided by the company," he says. "The problem is that many companies expect answers regarding power rates, service reliability and so on without giving the utility enough information to give a meaningful answer. I have rarely encountered a power company that was not willing to work with our clients when it is clear what the issues are."
      In addition, he says, the value-added engineering services offered by many utilities in areas such as load balancing, energy efficiency and cost management are "way under-utilized" by end users.
      "In today's economic environment, this is a very powerful service offering – one that smart companies and their consultants will take advantage of."
      We offer you here our take on the best offerings in economic development by U.S. utilities, presented in alphabetical order.

      Encompassing seven companies reaching across 11 states, the utility's economic development team is wide and deep with experience. Like other Top Utilities, AEP is often cited by consultants as a corporate entity, without regard to which arm they may have dealt with, which speaks well to best practices across both geographic and company boundaries. The ProCure site and building database system was developed by AEP, and is even employed by other utilities' ED departments. AEP also offers a site selection checklist. Judging from responses of several professional site selectors, however, AEP is already on their checklist.

AEP's transmission investments include big infrastructure deals such as the one it announced this summer with Duke, as well as a new operations center (right) in Ohio. Photos courtesy of AEP

      Alabama Power has been at the center of many major projects in the state in recent years, including last year's attraction of ThyssenKrupp's giant steel making complex near Mobile, whose price has now risen to $4.5 billion. The utility was the first to have an economic development department, established some 80 years ago. Today its suite of tools to aid site selectors reflects the depth and breadth of its heritage in the field, including a detailed menu of electricity pricing options and its very own stand-alone Web site, making its debut in September at www.AmazingAlabama.com.
      Anthony Oni, project manager, says the new site will feature increased building and site search capabilities, including a unique engine to combine building and demographic information. The utility is also launching a new program called AdvantageSite, a certification program for prepared and documented sites.

      CenterPoint serves 5 million customers in six states, including 2 million electricity customers in the Houston area. Industrial and office development in Houston has had plenty of momentum in the past two years, vaulting the metro area to fourth among Site Selection's Top Metros for corporate facility projects in 2007. Centerpoint has been at the center of much of that activity, whether it involves headquarters in the busy downtown or a new operation at the area's $15-billion "Spaghetti Bowl" complex of petrochemical operations.
      One service provided by CenterPoint to the entire economic development community is an annual report that consolidates project data and statistics from 16 area economic development agencies. That report for 2007 covered 124 landed projects and 9,842 associated net new jobs, with manufacturing accounting for 30 percent of all projects, and food manufacturing and distribution accounting for 10 percent of all jobs.
      FERC showed that Centerpoint had invested some $750 million in transmission projects between 2000 and 2006, with more on the way. In June, the gas side of the business announced its intent to explore interest in further expanding pipeline capacity from the Haynesville Shale area that includes east Texas, southwest Arkansas and northwest Louisiana.

      Among the deals Duke helped deliver to its split five-state territory were projects from Amylin Pharmaceuticals in Ohio, Wild Flavors' expansion in Kentucky, DuBose Industries and Cummins in Indiana; and 3M and Honda Jet in the Carolinas. All told, Duke economic developers helped attract $3.7 billion in corporate investment that will create 15,269 jobs.
      The utility in 2007 offered $100,000 each in Community Growth Partnership Grants to local economic development organizations in both Ohio and Indiana. Other assistance came through such programs as the Gold Star marketing program in Indiana. In the Carolinas, Duke's Site Readiness program has worked to assess 50 industrial site and five potential megasites since its inception in 2005. Duke says 10 new sites are being positioned for 2008, and eight for 2009.
      Unique aspects of Duke's services include, in addition to its regional teams' powerful Web resources, a three-person team of its own internal site selection consultants, focused on various industry sectors, working across Duke's entire national territory.

      To its credit, this year marked the first year that Entergy submitted its response to our annual questionnaire as a single corporate entity. More to its credit, site selectors thought of it as such when singing its praises, whether they had worked with it in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas. Together, the four affiliates helped generate over $10.4 billion in project investment, creating more than 14,400 jobs. Projects included Dassault Falcon Jet and many others in surging Little Rock; Marathon in Garyville, La.; Correct Door in Kenner, La.; ADP in Hinds, Miss.; and Eastman in Texas.
      New programs and initiatives in 2007 included creation of the Louisiana Site Selection Center Web site, development of an economic development sales tax ballot initiative in Clark County, Ark.; participation in the Southeast Texas Industrial Workforce Alliance and the new Entergy Mississippi Site Certification Program. In addition to pursuing companies such as Pinnacle Biofuels to locate on its successful SelectSites, Teamwork Arkansas leader Mike Maulden also helped efforts to pass sales tax exemption legislation for the wind power industry, which is growing in Little Rock at a new LM Glasfiber operation.

      Serving 4.5 million customers in parts of three states, FirstEnergy's area development teams nonetheless come under the direction of one person, Patrick Kelly. Together, they helped attract more than $2 billion in corporate project investment in 2007, creating more than 10,850 jobs. Among the projects: Novartis in New Jersey; Kellogg in Ohio; and Westinghouse Nuclear in Pennsylvania.
      A big feather in the utility's cap was the retention of some 3,000 jobs in its hometown of Akron in December 2007, when it worked with government leaders to help Goodyear reach its decision to not only redevelop its headquarters, but redevelop a whole section of downtown along with it. But the utility thinks much bigger than that.
      "We take a regional approach," CEO Tony Alexander told an audience in Cleveland in July, citing Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic's own international outreach. "We've tried to stop the community-by-community fighting for jobs, and create a bigger pie. It's in a very early stage, but it's making progress. As we secure commitments from business customers to expand operations, we have a better understanding of what it takes to manage their future energy needs."
      Among the utility's innovations was the debut in December 2007 of the FirstProspector interactive online mapping program for sites and buildings in FirstEnergy's service area.

      Whether citied as a Southern Company affiliate or as an entity in its own right, Georgia Power is on the minds of many a site selector.
      Among the projects that helped its 40-person economic development department to a record year in projects and job creation in 2007 were deals with Kellogg in Rome, Frito-Lay in Perry and Mobis, one of Kia's main logistics suppliers, in West Point.
      Mobis was one of five Kia suppliers attracted to the state in 2007 as part of Georgia's Kia Supplier Initiative, in which Georgia Power plays a primary role. Altogether, the team helped attract 91 projects – the largest tally in the department's 80-year history – which will create more than 14,300 jobs.
      Among the utility's special projects was a special-purpose Web site to help market the former Brown & Williamson complex in Macon, now called Interstate Business Park, and the acceleration of the department's "buy vs. build" trend to replace homemade technology tools with superior off-the-shelf products.

      Helping push the growth of such sectors as aerospace, automotive and polymers, Mississippi Power has been active in projects from Gulfport to Meridian, with a dash of Hattiesburg thrown in for good measure. Among the projects coming to the utility's southeastern portion of the state were Avery Dennison in Meridian and Trinity Yachts in Gulfport.
      Using the resources it gains by its affiliation with Southern Co., the utility also has put to effective use the LocationOne sites and buildings software developed years ago by Great Plains Energy. Early this year, it announced a new industrial site development program called Project Ready. Helping with the program are McCallum Sweeney and Waggoner Engineering, based in Jackson. The program is moving forward thanks to the Mississippi Power Economic Development Trust, established in 1989 to work in partnership with the communities it serves in Southeast Mississippi utilizing various programs to attract additional industrial locations.
      "Our vision with this program is to take our existing partnerships with each of the communities we serve to a new level," said John Atherton, vice president external affairs, Mississippi Power, "and ultimately get southeast Mississippi development ready in an effort to lure new industries and better quality jobs to the area."

      Serving 3.1 million customers in parts of both Carolinas and Florida, Progress energy, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, helped attract more than $766 million worth of corporate facility projects in 2007, expected to create more than 7,400 jobs.
      Major projects brought to fruition include those from Inc. Research in Raleigh; Mitsubishi Power Systems' expansion in Orlando; boat builder Brunswick Corp.'s $51.2-million investment in Navassa, N.C., near Wilmington; and Haier America, the Chinese concern that continues to grow steadily in Camden, S.C.
      Among the utility's 2007 highlights was helping to build consensus for the energy bill signed into law in North Carolina in 2007, the first in the southeast to include portfolio standards for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Progress is active on all sides of the sustainability issue, from helping Valpak save money with energy-efficiency measures at its new $200-million facility in St. Petersburg, Fla., to helping North Carolina State University launch an Advanced Transportation Energy Center with a $250,000 contribution to help study plug-in hybrid vehicles.


      Once again, one of the paragons of utility economic development practice had a successful year. It helped create 45,000 jobs (down from 53,000 in 2006), but the investment total was up to a record $5.6 billion from $4.2 billion the year before.
      Serving a population of 8.8 million in seven states, the government-owned utility supplies power to large industries and to 159 power distributor customers. Among the major projects its economic development staff helped attract: Aisin in Tennessee; Howa USA in Kentucky; AlphaPet in Alabama; and Nissin Brake in Georgia. The much-copied TVA Megasite program helped attract the Toyota and PACCAR investments to Mississippi. That program still has five sites in its holster.
      In partnership with the National Transportation Research Center, Inc., Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and seven of the Southeast's prominent universities, TVA launched the Automotive Research Alliance (ARA).
      Looking forward, as TVA celebrated its 75th anniversary earlier this year, its board approved an energy efficiency and demand response plan and a renewable and clean energy assessment plan, both geared to reduce demand, encourage more efficient use of electricity and add clean energy resources to TVA's generation mix.