News

National Renewables Cooperative Negotiates Purchase of Renewable Energy with E.ON Climate & Renewables
 
Carmel, IN -- The National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) – a recently formed
entity owned by 24 power supply and distribution cooperatives – announced today that it
has reached a major milestone by facilitating and negotiating agreements between two of its
member cooperatives and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America (EC&RNA). This
transaction represents the first of many planned renewable energy projects for NRCO and its
member cooperatives.

Under separate purchased power agreements (PPAs), Southern Maryland Electric
Cooperative Inc. (SMECO), a customer-owned electric utility based in Hughesville, MD, and Old
Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), a Glen Allen, VA-based cooperative that supplies
wholesale power to 11 member distribution cooperatives in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, have
agreed to purchase the energy and associated environmental attributes for the next 18 years from
the Stony Creek Wind Project. The project – which began commercial operation in the fall of 2009
and has a nameplate capacity of 52.5 MWs – is owned and operated by a subsidiary of EC&RNA,
and is located near Somerset, Pennsylvania within the PJM market. NRCO and its member
cooperatives, which include G&T and distribution cooperatives with over 39,000 MWs of
generation and serving 11 million electric customers in the United States, are pioneers in the
concept of bringing together power supply and distribution cooperatives from different regions of
the country to access large-scale renewables projects located throughout the continental United
States.

“These inaugural agreements represent the execution of NRCO’s mission to evaluate, deliver
and facilitate the negotiation of promising renewables opportunities for its member cooperatives
that will help them achieve meaningful participation in renewable energy projects at the most
affordable cost. We look forward to continuing success helping other member cooperatives meet
their renewable energy goals” said Amadou Fall, CEO of NRCO. NRCO functions as a
clearinghouse for renewable development opportunities while aggregating its members renewable
energy needs.

Austin J. Slater, Jr., SMECO president and CEO, said “We are very excited about the Stony
Creek project and working with NRCO. They worked with the developer to bring this project to the
table and assisted with the contract negotiations. We are always working to be good stewards of
the environment and to keep our electric rates competitive.”

“We are pleased that ODEC had the opportunity to partner with SMECO to add the Stony
Creek Wind Project to our respective portfolios of purchased power resources,” said Jackson E.
Reasor, ODEC president and CEO. “We also greatly appreciate the efforts of NRCO in helping to
facilitate this agreement. NRCO was established to assist electric cooperatives across the U.S. in
finding and securing economically-viable renewable energy resources. This project is another
successful example of how cooperatives can work together for the betterment of their consumermembers.”

“These PPAs play an important role in making our projects economically viable.” said Steve
Trenholm, CEO of EC&RNA. “We are particularly excited about playing a leading role in helping
these Cooperatives meet America’s fast-growing renewable energy needs.”

About NRCO:
Cooperatives across the country formed the National Renewables Cooperative
Organization (NRCO) to promote and facilitate the development of renewable energy
resources for its members. NRCO’s main purposes are to facilitate the cost-effective, joint
development of renewable resources nationwide for its cooperative owners, helping its owners
meet the requirements of voluntary and mandatory Renewable Energy Standards (RES).
Membership in the NRCO is open to generation and transmission cooperatives (G&Ts) and
distribution cooperatives that have the legal ability to buy power in the wholesale market.
Members located in areas that may not have renewable resources can participate in projects
across the United States through renewable projects originated and/or developed by NRCO. For
more information, please visit www.nrco.coop.

About ODEC:
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) is a generation-and-transmission cooperative that
provides wholesale power to 11 member electric distribution cooperatives in Virginia, Maryland and
Delaware. ODEC and its member systems are not-for-profit electric cooperative that are owned by the consumer-members they serve. For more information, please visit www.odec.com.

About SMECO:
SMECO is a customer-owned electric distribution cooperative based in Hughesville, MD
and serving 148,000 customers. SMECO serves southern Prince George’s County, Charles
County, St. Mary’s County, and all but the northeast portion of Calvert County. SMECO contracts
with wholesale power providers to meet the energy needs of its members. For more
information on SMECO visit www.smeco.coop.

About EC&RNA:
E.ON is one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. Our more than
88,000 employees generated just under €82 billion in sales in 2009. With leading market positions
in power and gas and nearly 30 million customers we operate in more than 30 countries.
Headquartered in Düsseldorf, E.ON Climate & Renewables is responsible for E.ON Group's global
renewables and climate protection activities. E.ON will be investing €8 billion in renewable energy
and environmental protection projects from 2007 – 2012 to expand the share of renewable energy
in E.ON’s portfolio for the long term. For more information, please visit www.eon.com/renewables.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Katie Shults, Renewables Developer, NRCO
317.344.7906 katie.shults@nrco.coop
Todd Bartling, Director of Renewables Development, NRCO
317.344.7905 todd.bartling@nrco.coop
Matt Tulis, Development Manager, EC&R NA
512.482.4026 matt.tulis@eon.com