Mendota Hills Wind Farm Finalizes Agreement with Project Contractors.

Energy Editors/Business Editors

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2004

On Tuesday, February 3, Mendota Hills LLC reached final settlement with subcontractors responsible for building the civil works at the Mendota Hills Wind Farm near Compton, Illinois. The project subcontractors had originally been hired by Orion Construction LLC, Appleton, WI. Mendota Hills terminated its contract with Orion Construction in December for breach of contract.

"We are pleased with the work done by the companies involved in this settlement, and the consideration by all the parties in resolving this matter. Mendota Hills looks forward to productive wind power generation at Illinois' first utility scale wind farm," said Gabriel Alonso, president of Mendota Hills.

"This is a good settlement. I believe that Mendota Hills and the project subcontractors made extra efforts to find a creative and satisfactory resolution to the matter," said Jack Pease, president of Supermix, Inc.

In addition to Supermix, Ambassador Steel, Harn Construction, Kessen Excavating, and Macklin Inc. provided construction services for the civil portion of the project and were parties to the settlement agreement.

The Mendota Hills Wind Farm was commissioned on November 24, 2003 and comprises 63 wind turbines representing 50.4 MW of generating capacity. The project was built on 2600 acres of farm land near the towns of Compton and Paw Paw, IL. Electric generation at Mendota Hills will be sufficient to meet the annual power needs of a town the size of Dixon, IL.

As part of the settlement, the subcontractors released all mechanics lien claims associated with the project.

"The landowners involved in this project have been incredible advocates for the wind farm since day one. Resolving this issue has been a priority for our company and we appreciate the participation of our landowner partners, especially during the project construction phase," said Mr. Alonso.

"I am happy to have Mendota Hills generating electricity on my land in one of the windiest areas of Illinois. I am looking forward to harnessing this renewable resource for power," said Dennis Cradduck, one of the landowners leasing acreage for the wind farm.

The Mendota Hills Wind Farm was developed by Navitas Energy, a Minneapolis-based company developing utility scale wind project throughout the Upper Midwestern United States.