TransAlta sells Fort Nelson power plant to BC Hydro

CALGARY - -- TransAlta announced today that BC Hydro has purchased its Fort Nelson gas-fired electrical generating plant for net proceeds of $20.5 million. TransAlta commissioned the plant in April 1999, and all the output was contracted to BC Hydro. The 45-megawatt plant is located about 45 kilometres south of Fort Nelson, British Columbia.

"The Fort Nelson plant does not currently meet the company's expected return on equity of 15 per cent nor have the medium term prospects to do so," said Ian Bourne, TransAlta's executive vice-president and CFO. "We will redeploy the proceeds to help finance our growth."

TransAlta is Canada's largest non-regulated electric generation and marketing company, with more than $7 billion in assets and 8,000 megawatts of capacity. As one of North America's lowest cost operators, our growth is focused on developing coal and gas-fired generation in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the business and anticipated financial performance of TransAlta Corporation. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause such differences include legislative or regulatory developments, competition, global capital markets activity, changes in prevailing interest rates, currency exchange rates, inflation levels and general economic conditions in geographic areas where TransAlta Corporation operates.