Portland, Maine (Platts)--22May2007

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman Monday signed into a law a bill designed
to encourage wind development in the state, which lags behind many others in
building wind facilities.

     The new law, known as the Rural Community-Based Energy Development Act,
is modeled after a Minnesota law that has spurred the development of locally
owned wind farms across the state.

     The measure provides incentives for Nebraska residents, non-profit
groups, school districts and tribal councils to develop small wind farms and
sell the output to utilities. Under the program, 20-year power purchase
agreement payments from the utilities are front-loaded so there is strong cash
flow to help with project financing. Rates drop in the second half of the PPA.

     The new law also allows Nebraskans to team with out-of-state partners so
long as the partner receives no more than 67% of the PPA payments. In
Minnesota, equity partners have included Edison Mission Energy and John Deere.

     If a Nebraska utility is required to meet a renewable portfolio standard
in the future, the utility must first consider whether projects under the law
are available to meet the utility's needs. The law does not require utilities
to sign contracts, but it directs them to include in their resource plans a
description of its efforts to purchase energy from authorized projects.

     Nebraska has the sixth highest wind potential among US states, but only
73 MW of installed capacity, according to the American Wind Energy
Association. In contrast, neighboring Iowa has 932 MW of installed capacity
but only the 10th best wind resources.