ELK RIVER, Minn., Aug. 7, 2003 -- Great River Energy is pleased to announce it will begin contract negotiations with TRIMONT Area Wind Farm, LLC to develop its next 100 megawatts of wind energy in southwestern Minnesota.

TRIMONT WIND is a coalition of local citizens from the project area that answered Great River Energy's request for proposals to develop a renewable energy supply resource to be available to the cooperative's members by 2005. It is believed this will be the largest, locally-owned wind project in the nation.

"We look forward to working with these local landowners on this potential new project," said Tim Seck, Great River Energy's project manager for renewable energy. "Their proposal met all the criteria we had set out in our request." Seck will discuss the contract during the Wind Energy Forum at FarmFest in Redwood County on Thursday, August 7 at 10:30 a.m.

TRIMONT WIND was selected because of its competitive price, its access to transmission line interconnections and ability to deliver the power to Great River Energy's member cooperatives. In addition, the location of the project was within the coop's service territory and the developer is locally owned.

"We're confident we can build and operate a project Great River Energy's members will be proud of," said Neal Von Ohlen, TRIMONT WIND spokesperson and Chief Manager of the LLC. "The local citizens who comprise TRIMONT WIND are also electric cooperative customers of South Central Electric Association (a Great River Energy member cooperative) so you could say this project is 'all in the family.'"

TRIMONT WIND plans to locate the project in Martin and Jackson counties near the Lakefield Junction station power plant. The turbines would be owned and operated by TRIMONT WIND. Great River Energy would buy the energy output from the turbines through a long-term purchase power contract, pending approval by its Board of Directors.

Both parties have targeted to have the contract completed during this upcoming fall season.

Great River Energy is a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Elk River, Minn. It provides energy and related services to 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin, serving approximately 1.2 million people. Great River Energy is the second largest power supplier in Minnesota.