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LS Power Announces Execution of Long-Term Power Purchase Agreement for Balance of Plum Point Coal Plant Capacity

Posted on: Thursday, 7 December 2006, 12:01 CST

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Plum Point Energy Associates, LLC ("Plum Point"), a member of the LS Power Group ("LS Power") of St. Louis, Missouri, announced today that it has signed a 30-year power purchase agreement with Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Inc. ("SWECI"), closing out subscription on the 665 MW facility. The Plum Point project, located in Osceola, Arkansas, is on schedule for a mid-2010 commercial operation date.

"We searched the country for a source of long-term energy that would meet our needs in terms of price and performance," said Kerry Sloan, chief executive officer of Southwestern Electric Cooperative. "The Plum Point plant will provide reliable, low-cost energy for future generations of Southwestern Electric members. We're pleased to count ourselves among the utilities buying power from this state-of-the-art facility," he said. "And we're happy to be doing business with a trusted name like LS Power."

The agreement with SWECI is for 70 MW. The agreement is the fourth 30-year power purchase agreement to be executed for the Plum Point project. The other three agreements are with The Empire District Electric Company, South Mississippi Electric Power Association and the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission. The addition of the SWECI agreement, along with the joint ownership interests sold in the energy station, completes the sale of capacity from the large-scale coal project.

"We are very pleased to have fully subscribed the Plum Point project, bringing another electric cooperative, SWECI, into the strong purchaser group," said Jason Hochberg, President of LS Power.

LS Power broke ground on the 665 MW pulverized coal facility in March and has sold tenancy in common interests in the project to East Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc., the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission, The Empire District Electric Company, and the Municipal Energy Agency of Mississippi. Plum Point will be one of the cleanest coal fired units in the country and one of the lowest variable cost units in the region when it comes on line in early to mid-2010.

LSP Services Plum Point, LLC, an affiliate of LS Power, is managing construction and will manage operation of the project. The project is being constructed pursuant to a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contract with Plum Point Power Partners, a joint venture of Zachry Construction Corporation, Black & Veatch, and Gilbert Central Corp, an affiliate of Kiewit Construction Company.

The LS Power Group

In addition to the Plum Point Energy Station, members of the LS Power Group have coal fired projects in advanced development in Texas, Georgia, Nevada and Iowa. Founded in 1990, the LS Power Group is a fully-integrated power plant owner, developer and manager. For information on the LS Power Group, please go to http://www.lspower.com/. On September 15, 2006, the LS Power Group and Dynegy, Inc. announced a merger transaction involving certain assets of the LS Power Group, including its interest in the Plum Point project, and Dynegy, Inc.'s assets. For more information on the transaction, please go to http://www.dynegy.com/.

LS Power Group

CONTACT: Jeff Corder of LS Power Group, +1-636-532-2200,jcorder@lspower.com

Web site: http://www.lspower.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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