U.S. approves 500-MW BP wind farm in Arizona

July 2 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators approved BP Wind'sproposal to install up to 243 wind turbines on federal land innorthwest Arizona to generate up to 500 megawatts (MW) of power. That is enough energy to supply up to 175,000 homes and willcreate about 750 construction jobs, the U.S. Department ofInterior said in a release Monday. The Department said this approval was part of PresidentObama's climate action plan to approve an additional 10,000 MWof renewable energy on public lands above an original goal of10,000 MW by 2020. BP Wind, a unit of UK-based oil company BP PLC, wantsto build the Mohave County wind farm on almost 38,000 acres offederal land about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Kingman,Arizona, near Las Vegas and the Nevada border. With this announcement, Interior said it has approved 46wind, solar and geothermal utility-scale projects on publiclands since 2009. When built, Interior said these projects could provideenough electricity to power more than 4.4 million homes andsupport over 17,000 construction and operations jobs. Interior said its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hasidentified an additional 14 active renewable energy proposalsslated for review this year and next. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)