Empire District Electric signs wind energy contract

The Elk River project, developed by Greenlight Energy of Charlottesville, Va., is in an area where the governor of Kansas has urged wind developers to quickly bring projects online, according to an Empire District news release.

Empire officials anticipate purchasing approximately 550,000 megawatt-hours of energy annually enough energy to meet the needs of about 42,000 homes from the project, beginning in December 2005. The deal would provide Empire District about 10 percent of its energy resources.

Brad Beecher, Empire District's vice president of energy supply, called the contract "a major step in ensuring that our customers benefit from a balanced mix of generation options. With the improvements made in wind generation technology and the production tax credits that were recently enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Bush, wind energy provides price stability, is environmentally friendly, and is economical for our customers," he said.

Beecher was referring to the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, which Bush signed into law Oct. 22. The act creates and extends a number of energy-related tax credits, including an expansion of the renewable energy production tax credit.

The contract grows PPM Energy's existing wind power portfolio of more than 830 megawatts of wind power in operation in seven states. PPM Energy ofcials aim to bring 2,300 megawatts of new wind power to the market by 2010.

"We are pleased to be building our rst wind power plant in Kansas, the state with the third most robust wind resource in the nation," said Terry Hudgens, CEO of Portland, Ore.-based PPM Energy. "The Elk River Project is the third we have announced so far that is expected to go into commercial operation in 2005, and we look forward to additional growth and geographic expansion in 2005."

PPM Energy customers include the federal Bonneville Power Administration, the city of Seattle, investor-owned utilities such as Alliant Energy and Xcel Energy, and cooperatives such as Minnesota's Great River Energy.

Board changes

In other news, Empire District Electric board member Melvin F. (Nick) Chubb Jr. has announced his retirement, effective April 28, 2005. Joplin native Kenneth R. Allen has been nominated to ll the board vacancy. An election will take place during the company's April 28 annual shareholder meeting.

Chubb, a retired senior vice president of Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. and a U.S. Air Force lieutenant general, was elected to the board in 1991. Since then, Empire District has grown from 120,000 customers to 157,000 customers, from a peak demand of 678 megawatts to 1,041 megawatts, and from a gross utility plant of $515 million to $1.2 billion.

Allen is vice president and treasurer of Texas Industries Inc. (NYSE: TXI) in Dallas.

Based in Joplin, Empire District Electric Co. is an investor-owned utility providing electric service to approximately 157,000 customers in southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, northeast Oklahoma, and northwest Arkansas. The company also provides ber optic and Internet services, customer information software services, utility industry technical training and has an investment in close-tolerance, custom manufacturing.

Its stock closed Dec. 14 at $22.41 a share, compared to a 52-week range of $19.48 to $23.48.

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