By Cassandra Sweet Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BP PLC (BP.LN, BP) and Sempra Energy (SRE) said Tuesday that together they will invest more than $1 billion in two wind farms under development in Pennsylvania and Kansas. BP's wind-development unit initially developed the projects and Sempra bought a 50% equity stake in both facilities, Sempra said. The Pennsylvania facility is a 141-megawatt wind farm being built by Renewable Energy Systems Ltd.'s U.S. unit that will use 88, 1.6-megawatt wind turbines made by General Electric Co. (GE), BP and Sempra said. The facility has long-term contracts to sell the electricity to two electric cooperatives. The 419-megawatt Kansas wind farm will use 262 GE wind turbines and will be built by Blattner Energy, BP and Sempra said. The electricity generated will be sold to Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. and American Electric Power Co. Inc. (AEP) unit Southwestern Electric Power Co. under long-term contracts. BP is one of the world's largest oil producers, and it also owns or co-owns 13 wind farms that have combined generating capacity of 1,730 megawatts, the company said. BP will operate both wind farms when they become commercially operational. Sempra, which owns electric and natural-gas utilities in California, as well as gas pipelines and storage facilities and gas export terminals in the U.S. and Mexico, has been expanding into the wholesale solar-power and wind-power markets. Sempra co-owns two other wind farms in Indiana and Colorado with BP Wind, and the company has 325 megawatts of its own solar and wind farms. Partnering with BP "has allowed Sempra to grow its wind portfolio very quickly," said Scott Crider, a spokesman for Sempra's Power & Gas unit. -By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468; cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com Order free Annual Report for American Electric Power Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=AEP or call 1-888-301-0513 Order free Annual Report for BP plc Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=BP or call 1-888-301-0513
