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Alabama's Public Service Commission has approved Alabama Power to purchase up to 404 megawatts of wind power from Oklahoma and Kansas. That amounts to more than three percent of the power Alabama Power customers use every year. This report follows news earlier this year that wind power may be the southeast's "most under-exploited energy opportunity" and that Cleanline has been cleared to build a "wind power pipeline" directly to the southeast. Bloomberg Businessweek reports:

Ellen Carey, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, said the other major investor-owned utility in the Southeast that has pursued power from wind projects is Southwestern Electric Power Co. in Louisiana. It has signed long-term agreements for 469 megawatts from three projects in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. "Both of these contracts — Alabama Power and SWEPCO — are significant because they show wind can deliver affordable power to every region of America and allow consumers in the Southeast to benefit from wind," she said Friday.