OG&E, the electric utility subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp., is requesting proposals from wind power developers for up to 300 MW of new capability.

The Oklahoma-based power company plans to add the new capacity to its power-generation portfolio by late 2010.

The company says adding up to 300 MW of wind generation "would be a major step for OG&E toward its goal to add up to 600 megawatts of wind power over the next four to six years".

OG&E already has 170 MW of wind energy, 50 MW from a power-purchase agreement with FPL Energy and 120 MW from its owned and operated Centennial wind farm. The 114 wind turbine farm is in Woodward and Harper counties in northwest Oklahoma.

OG&E is building a high-voltage transmission line from Woodward to Oklahoma City, in order to bring future supplies of wind power to the population centers of Oklahoma and across the region.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission earlier this year approved OG&E's renewable energy proposal, including a recovery mechanism for the cost of the transmission line from Woodward to Oklahoma City. Construction of the new transmission line is expected to begin in 2009.

Separately, OG&E also recently announced an agreement with the University of Oklahoma that will add 100 megawatts of wind energy to the OG&E system.