Nevada Power
Contact: Karl Walquist or Gary Aldax
Phone: (775) 834-3891, or (775) 834-5508

For Immediate Release

Companies that produce energy from renewable sources want to sell over 4,000 megawatts of"green power"to Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power.

Nevada Power has received 19 proposals from 15 bidders offering to sell a total of 1,845 megawatts of electricity to the southern Nevada utility and Sierra Pacific has received 30 proposals from 23 bidders offering to sell 2,449 megawatts of power to serve northern Nevada, according to Steve Oldham, senior vice president of power supply for Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power. Both utilities are subsidiaries of Nevada-based Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE: SRP).

Over 3,000 megawatts contained in the proposals would be generated by wind power. Another 385 megawatts would be from solar power and 784 megawatts of electricity would be generated by geothermal and biomass facilities.

"Our next step will be to analyze the bids and to notify the bidders if their proposals have complied with the requirements of our request for proposals,"explained Oldham."By the end of February we will submit our ecommendations to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and Bureau of Consumer Protection on which proposals should be accepted."

Added Oldham,"Our goal is to add dependable renewable energy supplies to our portfolio and to keep prices for our customers as low as possible."

Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power solicited the bids in October 2001 as required by a law passed during the 2001 Legislature, which requires Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific to gradually increase their use of renewable energy. By 2013 renewable energy must account for 15 percent of their respective energy portfolios.

Both utilities already have active conservation programs in place to encourage consumers to reduce energy usage so they'll have more control over their power bills. More details about the green power proposals are available on the utilities'web siteswww.nevadapower. comorwww.sierrapaci fic.com.