Gaelectric North America Northwest Power and Conservation Council Missoula Meeting January 12, 2011

How does wind compare to other resources? From NWPCC 6 th Resource Plan

Economic Reality of Operating Projects Job TypeGlacierRim Rock (est.)Total Engineering Direct Construction Indirect Construction Material Suppliers Total ,200 Taxes: Glacier Wind 1&2 will contribute roughly $3.6 million for taxes in 2010 Increase tax base for funding local public projects Job Creation (shown in man-years):

Economic Reality of Operating Projects Wheatland Cty Tax Revenue > $ 5,000,000 to date Judith Gap full time employees = $ 3,000,000 payroll Royalties to MT Landowners >$ 2,200,000 to date Montana Const Jobs/Work (~200) >$18,000,00 Total Economic Benefit over 5 years: Over $28,000,000 and counting! Per Department of Energy For each 1000 MW of wind generation in Montana: $14.8 million in tax revenue $2.7 million in royalty payments 271 new long term jobs w/$21.1 million payroll

Gaelectric Impacts ≈ $1 Million in Annual Payroll in MONTANA Doesn’t include payments to contractors Nothing built yet in America! Harlowton Project Alone Our most advanced project ≈ $1 Billion in investment What was the last investment in MT ≥ $1 Billion? At least 3X that in our pipeline

Billings Great Falls Havre Fort Benton Cut Bank Helena Butte Missoula Gaelectric Project Sites Lewistown Harlowton Coutts Liberty Tiger Ridge Roy Frenchman’s Ridge Kelly Hills Lennep Geyser ≈ 280,000 acres under long term lease options ≈ 3,000 MW of wind generation potential. ≈ $6 Billion investment potential

Common Misinformation Wind is wind! Montana’s is no different than any other state’s wind!

Comparison to Annual BPA Wind & Load Shape Peak Load Months Surplus Hydro Months

Comparison to Daily BPA Wind & Load Shape

We planned to sell into the Pacific Northwest Mid-C 500 MW Seattle area 460 MW NWE Green Line BPA Network Primary Transmission Point of Integration Primary Point of Delivery Delivery Alternatives Trans Svc Request Deposits: $3.4 million BPA Open Season Deposits: $15.0 million 500 MW 460 MW

Bonneville Open Season Reality Check Mid-C BPA Network Garrison Only MW of “non-wires” capacity attainable BPA won’t build a new line at embedded rates

Reality Check!!! Little of this will be possible without new transmission for gathering and export to market.

The Transmission Rate Fable The cost of new transmission will be charged to native load!

Possible Sources for the Transmission Rate Fable 1.FERC’s rejection of NWE’s rate proposal for MSTI NWE asked for a separate tariff FERC said use existing tariff Confusion over what a “tariff” is 2.FERC’s Proposed Cost Allocation Rule Allocate costs to beneficiaries 3.FERC’s Acceptance of MISO filing MISO proposing to over-build a 765 kV system Will accommodate new load and resources 4.Wall Street Journal Editorial

Questions?