GP&L Olinger Plant Receives High Marks for Lowered Emissions and Efficiency, Ranks in Top Echelon of Electric Generation Companies

GARLAND, September 18, 2002 - Garland Power & Light ranks near the top third among oil- and gas-fired steam plant generation stations in its size category, according to the August edition of Power magazine.

GP&L received high rankings in categories measuring nitrous oxide emissions and production costs, two of the three key categories analyzed by the magazine. Power evaluated the 121 oil/gas fired steam plant generation facilities with 300 megawatt or greater capacity throughout the United States.

GP&L received its best score when evaluated on nitrous oxide emissions, ranking 38th in the nation for low emissions and scoring in the top third of the generation plants evaluated. This ranking was achieved after only a portion of modifications to lower NOx emissions had been made at the Olinger plant 2001. These emissions are expected to decline even further when further modifications are completed this year, according to David Bernard, who as Electric Production Administrator, oversees GP&L's Ray Olinger Power Plant on Lake Lavon.

The Olinger plant was also ranked at 44th among the 50 lowest-cost producers in the survey group. This ranking is particularly significant considering, with the exception of the recently completed unit #4; Olinger's remaining units are 30 plus years old. To have such old units achieve such a high national ranking is a testament to the maintenance and operations personnel staffing the plant.