Great River Energy Seeks Power Resource Proposals

ELK RIVER, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 2004

Split Rock Energy, a wholesale power marketer and trader and wholly owned subsidiary of Great River Energy, issued a request for proposals (RFP) on behalf of Great River Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative based in Elk River, Minn. The RFP seeks two very different types of power resources: baseload and distributed generation.

The baseload RFP seeks proposals offering up to 200 MW of baseload resources to be on-line by May 1, 2011. Great River Energy is participating in the development of several baseload projects that could be jointly owned. This RFP seeks proposals from other potential projects for assessment, evaluation and determination of the lowest cost power supply for its members.

The baseload RFP documents currently are available on Great River Energy's website (www.GreatRiverEnergy.com) or Split Rock Energy's website (www.SplitRockEnergy.com) or by requesting the documents from either of the contacts listed below.

Responses to the baseload RFP are due by close of business on January 14, 2005.

The distributed generation RFP will request proposals using distributed generation to meet a very specific application - avoiding additional transmission investment while improving reliability in certain areas. Great River Energy will use the results of the RFP to determine if it can more cost effectively improve reliability in specific situations using distributed generation rather than by building additional transmission.

The distributed generation RFP documents should be available by January 14, 2005. The documents also will be available on Split Rock Energy's and Great River Energy's websites at that time.

Great River Energy is seeking indications of interest prior to actually issuing the distributed generation RFP. Please contact either of the contacts listed below to express interest. The process for the distributed RFP may be somewhat novel and require more two-way communication than a typical RFP process.

For more information during the RFP process, contact Joni Hamson at Split Rock Energy or Stan Selander at Great River Energy. Their contact information is listed below.

Great River Energy, which serves 28 distribution cooperatives, is one of the fastest growing energy providers in the state of Minnesota. It presently has a generating capacity of approximately 2,300 megawatts (MW) (summer rating) and serves a summer peak load of about 2,300 MW. Great River Energy's objective is to provide the lowest cost power supply to its member distribution cooperatives, while balancing various risk factors including, but not limited to, environmental impact, transmission, fuel supply and cost.

For more information about Great River Energy, visit the organization's website: www.GreatRiverEnergy.com .

RFP Contacts

Joni Hamson (Split Rock Energy)                        Stan Selander (Great River Energy)

 (320) 749-2008                                                 (763) 241-2446

jhamson@splitrockenergy.com                           sselander@grenergy.com