MANDAN, N.D. (AP) - A 200-megawatt wind project with 134 turbines is being planned in southwestern North Dakota.

Mandan-based Crownbutte Wind Power notified the state Public Service Commission this week that it wants to start building the project north of Gascoyne late next year.

Crownbutte says it has lease agreements with landowners for more than 16,000 acres. The Gascoyne project would be three miles from a transmission line owned by Montana-Dakota Utilities, manager Ryan Fegley said.

"That was a key factor in choosing that location," Fegley said Wednesday. Hilly terrain in the area will help the turbines be efficient, he said.

Crownbutte's Gascoyne II wind park would include 134 turbines, each with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts. The turbine fields would be in adjoining Bowman and Adams counties.

The project would equal a proposed 200-megawatt Ashtabula wind complex in Barnes County under development by FPL Energy.

Those projects are among an estimated 1,256.5 megawatts worth of North Dakota wind projects that have been built or are in development, the PSC says.

"We're all of a sudden expanding really big-time here," said Jerry Lein, a public utility analyst. "I'm hearing there's more out there."

Crownbutte also is developing a smaller 20-megawatt wind farm, Gascoyne I, which does not need PSC siting approval.

Crownbutte, formed in 1999, has been involved in several smaller wind projects, in South Dakota and Montana, Fegley said. It seeks to finish the 200-megawatt Gascoyne project early in 2010.