OKLAHOMA — The Oklahoma Corporation Commission have approved the University of Oklahoma's proposal to power its Norman campus with wind energy.

Its members voted unanimously for the "OU Spirit" wind farm project. Mr. David Boren, the OU President unveiled the project in 2008, describing it as one of the largest renewable energy commitments by the university.

Boren's press secretary, Jay Doyle, said approval of the wind farm signifies progress toward the university's goal which is to get all its electricity from wind power by 2013.

"OU is proud to become a role model as a responsible steward of the environment," Jay Doyle stated.

Officials at OU, Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., the attorney general's office and ratepayer groups already agreed to the project. This involves installating 44 wind turbines in North Western Oklahoma.

Officials said the turbines will generate up to 101 megawatts of electricity for the OU campus. The project will add about $1 to the monthly bills of OG&E consumers but will also save an estimated $9 million in the annual cost of natural gas and other fuels that power OG&E's electricity generating plants.

OG&E will invest up to $270 million in the project and provide a new source of income for property owners whose land are leased for the turbines and transmission lines.

OG&E in April donated $3.75 million to the Oklahoma Wildlife Commission to mitigate the wind farm's loss of habitat for the lesser prairie chicken, a stocky ground-dwelling bird found in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

The donation will allow the commission to purchase up to 10,000 acres to set aside as habitat in western Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Panhandle. Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony said OG&E and other utilities are appropriately expanding their wind energy potential after determining that ratepayers endorse the use of alternative energy sources.

"The citizens of the state are supportive," Anthony said.