Largest Wind Farm in North Dakota Announced

GRAND FORKS, N.D., March 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc., and Otter Tail Power Company today announce a contractual agreement with FPL Energy to develop the Langdon Wind Project. The wind farm will be constructed south of Langdon, North Dakota, in Cavalier County.

This multipart wind project includes 25-year agreements with Minnkota to purchase 99 megawatts (MW) of wind-generated electricity and with Otter Tail Power Company to purchase 19.5 MW of wind-generated electricity. Otter Tail Power Company also will own an additional 40.5 MW at the project site, bringing its total to 60 MW.

"We're pleased to have this renewable energy purchase agreement in place," said David Loer, Minnkota President and CEO. "In response to customers' interest, Minnkota is seeking to add more economical renewable generation to our energy resources. We're proud to be part of this FPL Energy project, which will be the single largest wind farm in the state of North Dakota."

In 2006 Minnkota Power Cooperative and Otter Tail Power Company issued separate requests for proposals (RFPs) for long-term renewable energy supply contracts. Before any of the subsequent legislative renewable energy standards and objectives passed in Minnesota and North Dakota, the companies identified FPL Energy's proposals as most economical and feasible.

"We began our search for new wind projects early in 2006 based on the amount of wind energy our integrated resource plan identified that we economically could add to our generation mix," said Otter Tail Power Company President Chuck MacFarlane. "We're looking forward to getting this project underway and identifying future wind projects to reach the 160 MW of wind energy called for in our resource plan."

The Langdon Wind Project is sized for 159 MW at peak output. It will use 106 General Electric turbines, each having a nameplate capacity of 1.5 MW. The wind farm will provide more than 350 million kilowatt-hours annually to Minnkota and more than 215 million kilowatt-hours to Otter Tail Power Company. The project will result in up to ten new jobs in the Langdon area for operations and maintenance. FPL Energy will build and operate the 159 MW project and own 118.5 MW.

The two utilities, under Minnkota's lead, will upgrade 35 miles of existing 41.6-kilovolt transmission line to 115 kilovolts between Langdon and Hensel to deliver the wind-generated electricity into the high-voltage transmission network. The participants anticipate completing the wind farm and the associated transmission line late in December of 2007 or early 2008.

FPL Energy operates four wind projects in North Dakota at sites near Center, Edgeley, Kulm, and Wilton, totaling more than 150 MW.

Otter Tail Power Company purchases 21 MW of wind energy from FPL Energy's North Dakota Wind II project near Edgeley. Since 2002 the company has given customers the opportunity to support wind energy by purchasing, for an additional fee, some or all of their electricity through its TailWinds program.

Minnkota owns and operates two 900-kilowatt commercial-scale wind turbines, the first two erected in North Dakota. The output of these turbines is sold under the cooperative's Infinity Wind Energy program to customers who voluntarily enroll by paying an additional fee per 100-kilowatt-hour block a month.

Minnkota is a generation and transmission cooperative that supplies wholesale electricity to 11 member-owner distribution cooperatives, 3 in eastern North Dakota and 8 in northwestern Minnesota. Minnkota also is the operating agent for the Northern Municipal Power Agency (NMPA), which serves 12 municipal utilities in the same geographic region. Together the Minnkota/NMPA Joint System serves more than 280,000 people. To learn more about Minnkota visit http://www.minnkota.com/ .

Otter Tail Power Company, a division of Otter Tail Corporation , is headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. It provides electricity and energy services to more than 250,000 people in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. To learn more about Otter Tail Power Company visit http://www.otpco.com/ . To learn more about Otter Tail Corporation visit http://www.ottertail.com/ .

FPL Energy is the world's leader in wind energy, with 49 wind facilities in operation in 15 states. It is a subsidiary of FPL Group, one of the nation's largest providers of electricity-related services. FPL Group's principal subsidiary is Florida Power & Light Company, serving 4.4 million customer accounts in Florida. Additional information is available at http://www.fplenergy.com/ and http://www.fplgroup.com/ .