ENDESA Italia Inaugurates the Repowering of Its Tavazzano Plant.

NEW YORK -- ENDESA Italia (NYSE:ELE):

--Upgrade of group 5 to 800 MW CCGT 

--Elimination of sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions and particles

--Large-scale reduction in NOx.

--Conversion of group 6 to 400 MW CCGT to be completed in 2005

--Group output to increase from 39% to 56%.

--Total investment of Euro 400 million.

ENDESA Italia (NYSE:ELE), the third largest electricity producer in Italy, inaugurated this morning the new group 5 for its Tavanzzano plant, converted to a combined-cycle facility. Present at the inauguration were Osvaldo Felissari, President of the province of Lodi, where the station is located, Manuel Pizarro, Chairman of Endesa, and Rafael Miranda, CEO. The mayors of the municipalities where the station is located (Luca Ferrari of Montanaso Lombardo and Giuseppe Stroppa of Tavazzano), as well Jesus Olmos, General Manager for Endesa in Europe, and Alvaro Quiralte, CEO of Endesa Italia, took part in the ceremony.

Prior to its conversion, the Tavazzano plant consisted of four traditional thermoelectric groups, powered by fuel-oil/gas, each with a capacity of 320 MW. The project to repower the plant consists of converting two of these four groups to combined cycle facilities.

The so-called group 5, inaugurated today, will increase capacity from 320 MW to 800 MW and is made up of two gas turbines with two waste-heat boilers connected to the existing steam turbine. In addition, the conversion of another of the four groups, group 6, is underway and this will be operative in 2005. This will consist of a single gas turbine and a single steam turbine, increasing the capacity of this group from 320 MW to 400 MW.

After the repowering, the plant, which initially had a capacity of 1,280 MW, will have of two combined cycle groups (5 & 6) and two fossil fuel groups (7 & 8), with a combined capacity of 1,800 MW. Total investment in the project stands at Euro 400 million.

The repowering brings clear environmental benefits: a large-scale reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and elimination of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particles. Output for the new groups will be around 56%, representing a 17 percentage point increase.

The minimisation of down time at the old groups was a priority when scheduling the repowering work. The latter remained in operation during most of the project thanks to building new units in areas other than those occupied by the current groups, so that stoppages at groups 5 and 6 were kept down to just 13 months. The Tavazzano plant was therefore able to ensure maximum productivity levels at a critical moment in time for the Italian electricity system and its capacity reserve. The group 5 repowering, started in December 2002, took 22 months. The project involved the collaboration of 150 companies, nearly 1,700,000 hours of work in total, with daily peaks of up to 900 workers.

The repowering of Tavazzano, together with that of Ostiglia, means Endesa Italia now has 1,600 MW of combined cycle capacity, representing 25% of the company's total installed capacity of 6,300 MW.

The inauguration of the group 5 repowering at this station represents another step forward in ENDESA's Strategic Plan and the consolidation of its presence in Italy and the Mediterranean basin.

In addition to concluding the conversion of the two plants in Lombardi, the company is working on other related projects including the conversion of the Monfalcone plant to combined cycle and the agreement between Endesa and ASM Brescia to purchase the Italian company, Eurosviluppo Elettrica, created to develop an 800MW co-generation plant at Scandale, in the province of Crotone. There is also a firm commitment to developing production fuelled by renewable energy sources; the target is to install wind farms in Italy with total capacity of 400 MW. To this end, Endesa and Gamesa recently signed a 3-year agreement to develop up to 200 MW of wind energy in Italy, in addition to the 20 MW wind park at Florinas, in Sardinia, which Endesa Italia acquired from Gamesa last July.

All of these investments will enable Endesa Italia to enjoy highly competitive generating assets by 2008, with total capacity of 8,000 MW and a production mix based fundamentally on CCGT and coal-fuelled output.

For additional information please contact David Raya, North America Investor Relations Office, telephone # [phone] http://www.endesa.es