AES Red Oak Completes $384 Million Bond Financing; Construction Commences on 832 MW Gas-Fired Power Plant in New Jersey.

Business Editors

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2000

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) announced today that its subsidiary, AES Red Oak L.L.C., has completed a $384 million non-recourse project bond financing for the construction of an 832 MW natural gas-fired combined cycle plant in Sayreville, New Jersey.

The sale of bonds was managed by Lehman Brothers and co-managed by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. AES' total investment in the plant will be $440 million, which includes an AES equity contribution of $56 million.

Raytheon Engineers & Constructors, Inc. began construction earlier this month of the AES Red Oak facility under a turnkey contract. Completion of construction and commencement of commercial operations is expected in the first quarter of 2002.

The capacity, associated energy and ancillary services from the plant will be sold under a 20-year tolling agreement with Williams Energy Marketing & Trading Co., a unit of Williams (NYSE:WMB). Under the tolling agreement, Williams will provide fuel to the facility. The power plant will be owned and operated by a subsidiary of AES.

Charles Falter, Project Director of AES Red Oak, commented, "We are very pleased to add AES' largest greenfield gas-fired plant to the robust Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland ("PJM") electricity market. This facility, along with our AES Ironwood facility in South Lebanon, Pennsylvania, increases our presence in the PJM market and adds to our ability to deliver clean, low-cost power into that market for many years to come. We are also pleased that this facility will be another successful addition to our portfolio of businesses that supply energy conversion services to Williams."

Dennis W. Bakke, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "This is another example of an AES business hedging the long-term market price risks for electricity and fuel. The project team did an excellent job in managing these variables while achieving the solid economics that we seek."

AES' business development successes in 2000 include the following:

- In February, AES announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire a
59% stake in the 1,000 MW hydroelectric facility of Hidroelectrica Alicura S.A.
("Alicura") in Argentina from Southern Energy, Inc. ("SEI").

- In February, AES announced that a subsidiary had reached an agreement with
the Bulgarian state-owned electric utility NEK, that will allow AES to build,
own, operate and transfer a $750 million lignite-fired power plant.

- In January, a subsidiary of AES agreed to acquire 59% of the outstanding
preferred (non-voting) shares of Eletropaulo S.A. ("Eletropaulo").

- In January, a subsidiary of AES and Caterpillar Inc. reached a service
agreement for multiple energy products that will result in the construction of
a 45 MW cogeneration plant in Mossville, Illinois.

AES is a leading global power company comprised of competitive generation, distribution and retail supply businesses in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Georgia, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The company's generating assets include interests in one hundred and twenty-three facilities totaling over 43 gigawatts of capacity. AES' electricity distribution network has over 954,000 km of conductor and associated rights of way. In addition, through its various retail electricity supply businesses, the company sells over 110,000 gigawatt hours per year to over 15 million end-use customers.

AES is dedicated to providing electricity worldwide in a socially responsible way.

For more general information visit our web site at www.aesc.com or contact investor relations at [e-mail]. The list aes-pr-announce is an automated mailing list and can be found on the investing page of our web site. Those who subscribe to this list will receive updates when AES issues a press release.