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ENRON WIND DEDICATES NEW CALIFORNIA WIND POWER PROJECT; FIRST MAJOR GREEN MERCHANT PLANT IN THE STATE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, December 8, 1999
HOUSTON - Enron Wind Corp., a subsidiary of Enron Corp., dedicated today its latest California wind power project, the Green Power I Wind Power facility, near Palm Springs, Calif. The 22-turbine, 16.5-megawatt project, which was built solely to supply emerging green power markets, is the first major renewable power plant since California opened its markets to competition in 1998.
"Green Power I was built to supply clean, renewable electrons for Southern California’s environmentally conscious electricity consumers” said Ken Karas, chairman and CEO of Enron Wind Corp. "Since California opened its doors to consumer choice, more and more people have chosen green power for their homes. Businesses have also begun to switch to green power to keep up with their customers and to demonstrate their environmental commitments.”
Green Power I began producing power in June 1999 and supplies enough clean electricity to supply the annual residential needs of 6,000 typical American households. Traditionally, wind power has been sold only under long-term contract to utilities, however the Green Power I facility was built without contract and its power is being sold through retail marketers to residential, commercial and industrial customers, including Patagonia, Inc., the Ventura, Calif.-based outdoor clothing company.
"We're pleased to support the construction of wind power projects such as Green Power I," said Michael Crooke, CEO of Patagonia, Inc. "With the environmental costs of non-renewable energy sources becoming less acceptable every year, we see this as a good investment, both for our company and the earth."
Each year, the zero-emission Green Power I facility will eliminate 88 million pounds of global warming gases (carbon dioxide), and 300,000 pounds of smog emissions (nitrogen oxides), in addition to various toxic metals like mercury that would have been produced by other means of electricity generation. The smog emissions avoided are the equivalent to taking 10,000 cars off Southern California roads.
"I am pleased to see that Californians who care about the environment are now able to choose clean, renewable wind power as an alternative to other methods of power generation that release harmful pollutants into our atmosphere,” said U.S. Rep. Mary Bono. “The growing popularity of renewable energy use will help balance our world’s energy mix and benefit our planet.”
The Green Power I wind power facility was developed, constructed, and is operated by Enron Wind Corp. The project uses advanced Zond Z-750kW Series wind turbines built by Zond Energy Systems of Tehachapi, Calif. With 48- and 50-meter rotor diameters, approximately the size of the wingspan of a MD-11 jumbo jet, the Z-750kW wind turbines are the largest manufactured in the United States.
Enron Wind Corp. is a pioneer and world leader in the power generation market and a fully integrated wind power company. The company provides power plant design and engineering, project development, financing, and operations and maintenance services, and designs and manufactures state-of-the-art wind turbines in California and Germany ranging in size from 550 kilowatts to 2.0 megawatts. The company has developed and/or sold more than 4,000 wind turbines worldwide, comprising more than 1,200 megawatts of green capacity. Enron Wind Corp's Internet address is www.wind.enron.com
Enron is one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies. The company, which owns approximately $34 billion in energy and communications assets, produces electricity and natural gas, develops, constructs and operates energy facilities worldwide, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers around the world, and is developing an intelligent network platform to facilitate online business. Enron’s Internet address is /corp. The stock is traded under the ticker symbol, "ENE."
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For additional information please contact:
Karen Denne
(713) 853-9757
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