Next Era to develop 100MW Oklahoma project

US: NextEra Energy is to develop a 100MW central Oklahoma wind farm that will sell power either directly to a utility or on the wholesale market.

According to reports, NextEra hopes to secure a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 62-turbine project in Grady County. But it may also open the wind farm as a facility selling power to Oklahoma's wholesale market.

NextEra is talking to several potential customers and plans to bring the wind farm online by the end of this year, whether or not it has a PPA, the reports said.

The developer has 449 MW of wind installed in Oklahoma, or 40 percent of the state's 1130 MW.

NextEra has developed four projects in the state: the 147 MW Weatherford Wind Energy Center, the 102 MW Oklahoma Wind Energy Center, the 101.2 MW OU Spirit wind farm and the 98.9 MW Elk City project.

Oklahoma ranks 11th in the nation for installed wind capacity. At a May investment conference, the usually press-shy wind industry giant has allowed a rare glimpse behind the curtain and revealed plans to invest $7-10billion and add up to 3.5-5GW of new wind generation by 2014.