Fearful of the possible loss of federal tax breaks, a company is rushing to complete a planned 150-megawatt wind farm in eastern North Dakota that would be financed partly by local investors.

"It's going to be tight," said Warren Enyart, secretary of M-Power LLC, of Finley, which is developing the project. "We're scrambling. We're somewhat optimistic, but everything has to fall in place very precisely."

The project will include between 58 and 100 wind turbines, depending on the design that is chosen, Enyart said. Officials are negotiating to sell the farm's electric output to two utilities, he said. He declined to identify them.

The proposed site is roughly within a triangle formed by drawing lines between the communities of Cooperstown, Hope and Luverne in Griggs and Steele counties. It is just north of a proposed 200-megawatt wind farm that another company, FPL Energy of Juno Beach, Fla., is proposing to develop northeast of Valley City.

M-Power is asking the state Public Service Commission to determine whether it will have jurisdiction over siting the project. The commission's jurisdiction normally does not extend to projects that will generate less than 100 megawatts of power.

The M-Power project is being developed in two concurrent stages, Enyart said in a letter to the PSC. One wind farm would generate up to 50 megawatts of power, while the second would generate up to 100 megawatts.

The project's developers initially intended to finish construction by late 2009 or early 2010, Enyart's letter says.

"However, the uncertainty of the federally authorized production tax credits has prompted the utilities to request an accelerated constructions schedule," the letter says. M-Power's goal now is to have the wind farms operational by Dec. 31, when the credits will expire unless Congress extends them, it says.

Enyart said in an interview Friday that the company wants to raise between $1.3 million and $1.6 million in equity. It has more than $600,000 raised so far, he said. About 100 people have invested, either by buying investment units for cash or taking units in exchange for options to use their land, he said.

Initially, units in M-Power were sold to investors at $10 each, but the price is now $45 each, with a minimum investment of $4,500, Enyart said.

M-Power was formed by two organizations, the Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone and the Griggs/Steele Wind Development Group LLC.

The company has been working with National Wind LLC of Minneapolis, which is also helping to develop a 750-megawatt wind farm in Roberts, Marshall and Day counties in South Dakota's northeastern corner.