PPL to Expand Generating Capacity in PJM Region

Planned Acquisition of Output from Central Pennsylvania Natural-Gas-Fired Power Plant to Add 664 Megawatts

A PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) subsidiary has entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the acquisition of rights to the capacity and energy of a 664-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant in Lebanon, Pa., continuing the company’s strategic expansion of its generating capacity.

PPL EnergyPlus, PPL’s energy marketing subsidiary, has agreed to acquire a long-term tolling agreement from BE Ironwood LLC, a subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. Terms were not disclosed. The combined-cycle plant will continue to be owned and operated by a subsidiary of The AES Corporation of Arlington, Va.

“This tolling agreement will provide us with immediate additional capacity in the PJM region,” said Joe Hopf, president of PPL EnergyPlus. “While PPL continues to pursue opportunities to acquire or build new assets, we also are opportunistically taking advantage of cost-effective arrangements in which we can increase the megawatts we have at our disposal in the short term.”

Under the tolling arrangement, PPL EnergyPlus will pay AES Ironwood compensation for generating electricity at the plant with natural gas supplied by PPL EnergyPlus. The plant, known as AES Ironwood, began operation on Dec. 28, 2001. The tolling arrangement runs through December 2021.

The transaction is subject to various regulatory approvals, including approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. PPL EnergyPlus filed an application for FERC approval Wednesday (4/15).

PPL has been increasing its available generating capacity in various ways: by increasing the output of its two Susquehanna nuclear plant units; by planning projects to increase capacity at hydroelectric facilities in Pennsylvania, Montana and Maine; by entering into a previously announced long-term contract to buy 300 megawatts of energy and capacity from the Longview project being built in West Virginia; and by undertaking a comprehensive renewable energy program involving wind, solar, biomass and landfill methane energy projects. The company also is considering building a third nuclear unit adjacent to its existing nuclear plant near Berwick, Pa.