Washington (Platts)--24Mar2009

Westminster, Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission on
Tuesday said it has reached an agreement with First Solar to develop a 30-MW
solar power plant in northeastern New Mexico.

The proposed 500,000-panel photovoltaic plant, dubbed the "Cimarron I
Solar Project," would be the largest photovoltaic project by an electric
cooperative and one of the largest in the world, Tri-State said.

The co-op said plant construction is expected to begin in April 2010 with
initial generation scheduled to occur by August. The facility is expected to
be fully operational by the end of 2010.

The project will be located on 250 acres in Colfax County within the
service territory of Springer Electric Cooperative, one of Tri-State's 12 New
Mexico member co-ops.

Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar will act as the engineering, procurement
and construction contractor and will monitor and maintain the facility,
Tri-State said.

Tri-State said it has contracted to buy the facility's output for 25
years. Financial and operational terms of the agreement are confidential, the
co-op said.