Energy

Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:05am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Marble River 229-megawatt wind project in upstate New York was approved by the state utility regulator on Wednesday, said its owners, AES-Acciona Energy NY and Horizon Wind.

By the time it goes into operation by the end of 2009, it will be the second-largest wind farm in the state. The 320-MW Maple Ridge project in Lewis County is the biggest in the state.

The wind farm near Clinton and Ellenburg in Clinton County will have 109 wind turbines, each 2.1-MW in capacity, with some blades towering 407 feet.

The project's output is to be sold into the wholesale markets and the spot markets administered by the New York Independent System Operator.

Horizon Wind is owned by Energias de Portugal, which has a renewable energy unit EDP Renewables.

EDP has quickly built up its windpower business and has wind parks in countries including Spain, Portugal, France and Poland. In the United States, EDP bought Horizon Energy from Goldman Sachs for $2.2 billion last year.

AES-Acciona Energy NY is a joint venture between AES Corp based in Arlington, Virginia and Acciona based in Madrid.

The American Wind Energy Association ranks New York No. 16 among the top U.S. states for potential for wind power development. The latest AWEA rankings show New York 11th among U.S. states in installed wind capacity, which is the highest for any state east of the Mississippi River except Illinois.

New York had 425 megawatts of installed wind generation capacity by the end of 2007, the AWEA rankings show.

(Reporting by Bernard Woodall, editing by Richard Chang)