North Carolina regulators approved on Tuesday an application by a U.S. subsidiary of Spanish power company Iberdrola (IBE.MC) to build a 300-megawatt wind farm in the state's northeast.
The Desert Wind Power Project proposed by Portland, Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables Inc. and approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission will, if built, be the first commercial scale wind project in the state.
The approval is the first of several regulatory steps for the project, which could begin construction as early as late 2011.
A 300 megawatt wind farm would be enough to power between 55,000 to 70,000 North Carolina homes with electricity.
