A Self-Inflicted Wound Aggravates Angst Over Enron
The New York Times, 09/09/01
Coburg energy plant opponents organize
Associated Press Newswires, 09/09/01
Raising money first test for candidates seeking Gramm's seat
Associated Press Newswires, 09/09/01
India: FIs asked to find buyers for Dabhol foreign stake
Business Line (The Hindu), 09/09/01
MSEB refuses to buy DPC phase one power, plans load shedding
Press Trust of India Limited, 09/09/01
Westerners look to windmills as possible saviors of a way of life
Associated Press Newswires, 09/09/01
New Delhi To Intervene In a Dispute With Enron
The New York Times, 09/08/01
Finance, power, law secretaries discuss Dabhol
The Times of India, 09/08/01
Business briefs / Houston & Texas
Houston Chronicle, 09/08/01

Enron's Azurix Unit Threatens to Leave Argentina, Paper Says
Bloomberg, 09/08/01

Enron Unit Bids to Supply Wind Power to California (Update1)
Blomberg, 09/07/01





Money and Business/Financial Desk; Section 3
MARKET WATCH
A Self-Inflicted Wound Aggravates Angst Over Enron
By ALEX BERENSON

09/09/2001
The New York Times
Page 1, Column 1
c. 2001 New York Times Company

SOMETHING is rotten with the state of Enron. 
Or so Wall Street suspects. On Jan. 1, shares in Enron, the giant energy trading company in Houston, stood at $83.13. On Friday, Enron closed at $31.57, down 9.7 percent for the week and 62 percent for the year. The slide has destroyed more than $38 billion in shareholder value.
In part, the company's problems are beyond its control, a result of the collapse in natural gas prices this year and investor fears of a coming glut in electricity. But the deepest wound at Enron is self-inflicted. Heavy insider selling, indecipherable accounting practices and a stream of executive departures have combined to create a growing credibility gap between the company and Wall Street. 
''The stock is trading under a cloud,'' says James S. Chanos, the president of Kynikos Associates, a hedge fund in New York. Mr. Chanos began betting against Enron early this year and says he thinks that the company's shares remain overvalued. 
Enron's problems came to a head on Aug. 14, when it announced that Jeffrey K. Skilling, the chief executive, had quit for personal reasons. 
With his resignation, Mr. Skilling joined a half-dozen other top Enron managers who have decided this year to pursue other opportunities. Still, the news came as a surprise because Mr. Skilling was named to his post only in February. 
Under the best of circumstances, the unexpected departure of a chief executive rattles Wall Street. But hard-headed investors can usually comfort themselves by toting up the sales and profits that the dearly departed pooh-bah has left behind. Executives come and go, but numbers are forever. 
Unfortunately, Enron's books offer investors little succor. The complexity of the company's businesses and the way it reports its results make understanding Enron's financial statements essentially impossible. 
Over the last decade, Enron has transformed itself from a simple natural gas pipeline company into the world's largest trader of electricity and gas. Last year, about three-quarters of the company's cash flow came out of the company's wholesale services division, which includes its trading operations. 
But Enron keeps to itself the details of the trades it makes. Are they short-term or long-term? Is the company hedged, or does it make ''directional bets'' on the prices of the commodities it trades? 
The answers are crucial, because they determine how much risk Enron has taken to make its money. Big profits are nice. Big profits that come from big, risky trades are a recipe for big, unexpected write-offs. 
Enron also makes a habit of selling assets and securities to closely related companies in ''related party'' transactions. The company says that the deals are comparable to those it makes with independent buyers and that they have been approved by its board and outside auditors. 
But related-party deals can provide a convenient way for public companies to shift losses to private affiliates. And Enron's disclosure about its related-party deals, including billions of dollars in asset swaps with a partnership that until recently was controlled by the company's chief financial officer, is notably sketchy. 
In the good old days, like last year, companies could get away with the unlikeliest of accounting gimmicks, as long as their revenue and profit numbers looked good. But Wall Street has become more demanding, as Enron is learning to its chagrin. 
Mark Palmer, a spokesman for Enron, says the company is aware of investors' concerns. ''We've got credibility issues on the street, no question,'' Mr. Palmer says. ''We're looking at a lot of ways to give our investors more information.'' 
Sooner would be better than later.

Chart shows Enron's stock price since January 2001. 
Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Coburg energy plant opponents organize

09/09/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

COBURG, Ore. (AP) - Despite promised answers to questions about a proposed natural gas-fired power plant near Coburg, many of the plant's opponents aren't particularly interested in what developers have to say. 
"I think minds are already made up, and whatever they say, people know it is just smoke and mirrors," said Carolyn Kinnan, a leader of a group that intends to begin weekly public meetings Monday night to build a united front against the 605-megawatt plant proposed to be built on 17 acres north of town.
Coburg Power manager Gary Marcus is responding to questions as his locally owned company heads into a long regulatory process that he hopes will result not only in approval of the generating plant by the state Energy Facility Siting Council, but also eventual acceptance of the project by its neighbors. 
Marcus and his staff spent more than a week researching and answering more than 100 written questions submitted by the 500 or so people who attended an Aug. 22 community meeting that was intended as a public introduction of the proposal. 
Coburg Power is expected to post its responses on its Web site early this week and to mail them later to all 1,300 households with Coburg ZIP codes. 
"We have answered absolutely every question that was written down during the public hearing. It took us about a week to answer those because we had to consult experts from various disciplines," Marcus said. 
The most common questions have involved the potential for air pollution and the amount and source of water required to operate the plant. 
Others have asked about the plant's visual impact on the mixed farm and industrial area two miles north of Coburg. 
Some have simply expressed their disapproval. 
John White, who is managing the Coburg plant's application process for the state, said the project has generated more early interest than most similar proposals. 
"It's manageable, but it's more than I have experienced, as far as public comments on previous projects," he said. "A majority of the comments have been either outright opposed, or opposed because there are unanswered questions." 
Coburg Power is independent but is working closely with energy giant Enron North America, which has an exclusive option to buy the project if it's developed. 
That arrangement has produced much of the ire toward the proposal. 
"This power plant is not for our benefit, it's for Enron's benefit; it's for their pockets," Kinnan said. "They are going to be selling (the electricity) to the highest bidder, which will be out of this area." 
Marcus conceded that any power produced by the plant would be sold to utilities elsewhere, but more electricity would help everyone in the West. 
"In terms of who will buy it, it will all go on the (Western power) grid," he said. 
He also contended that current design plans would make the plant the cleanest of its kind in the world. 
The 40-acre Coburg site was chosen because it sits atop a major natural gas pipeline that would supply the plant and is just a quarter-mile from a primary federal Bonneville Power Administration transmission line.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	


Raising money first test for candidates seeking Gramm's seat

09/09/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

DALLAS (AP) - For candidates vying for Sen. Phil Gramm's job, the race is on to see who can raise the most money. 
The cost for running a Senate campaign could run as high as $20 million, and the ability to raise such funds has emerged a key calculation among big-name Republicans and Democrats.
At least nine politicians seeking the job have an edge in the fund-raising sweepstakes. 
Several congressmen have expressed interest in the seat and they can transfer past political cash on hand into a Senate contest. 
But state and local candidates looking to run, such as Attorney General John Cornyn and Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, will have to start raising money from scratch. 
Others can get around the restrictions by spending their own money. Land Commissioner David Dewhurst, a possible Senate contender, can dip into a personal fortune he built as a businessman. Analysts say that's an early advantage, but no guarantee of victory. 
"It's better than people who don't have that money, but it doesn't mean you can buy the seat," Larry Makinson, a senior fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group that tracks contributions, said in The Dallas Morning News Sunday's editions. "The money that wins the most in elections is other people's money, not your own." 
Gramm's announcement Tuesday that he will not seek re-election set off a political chain-reaction on both sides of the ticket. 
Efforts by Republicans to unify behind a single candidate and head off a bruising and expensive primary fight appear to have failed. Gramm said he intends to serve out his term rather than quit early and allow Gov. Rick Perry to appoint a Republican replacement. 
Unlike state law, which allows unlimited contributions, federal law restricts donations in congressional races to $1,000 from individuals and $5,000 from committees. 
Because each contributor is limited to giving $1,000, the most influential donors are those who can bundle cash from many givers. 
In Texas, the core of a Republican money machine is the "Bush Pioneers," more than 130 wealthy supporters of George W. Bush who raised at least $100,000 apiece in his presidential race. 
"The real power doesn't go to the people who sign the checks," Makinson said. "It's who corrals the checks." 
Bush Pioneers include Dallas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly, Tom Hicks and Louis Beecherl; Enron chief Kenneth Lay of Houston; and San Antonio lobbyist Tom Loeffler. 
On the Democratic side, the key to a candidate's fortunes includes a number of successful Texas trial lawyers, such as Fred Baron of Dallas, John Eddie Williams of Houston, Walter Umphrey of Beaumont and Harold Nix of Daingerfield. 
"The Democratic side is where the money becomes much more critical because their ability to tap into sources around the country is more limited," said Austin political consultant Jeff Montgomery. "Unless you have a star like Hillary Clinton, it's a lot more difficult for Democrats to raise money than the Republicans." 
A heavily contested primary would leave the candidates on each side scrambling for cash from the same sources, draining a finite pool of campaign money. 
Republicans say Cornyn is expected to announce Wednesday that he will run. Other Republicans considering the seat are Dewhurst, Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza and Reps. Henry Bonilla of San Antonio and Joe Barton of Ennis. 
Among Democrats, former Attorney General Dan Morales has served notice he will enter the race and others mulling the contest are Kirk and Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston. 
Austin lawyer Ed Cunningham already announced his candidacy.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

India: FIs asked to find buyers for Dabhol foreign stake

09/09/2001
Business Line (The Hindu)
Fin. Times Info Ltd-Asia Africa Intel Wire. Business Line (The Hindu) Copyright (C) 2001 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. All Rights Res'd

NEW DELHI, Sept. 8. THE Government has asked domestic financial institutions (FIs) to open talks with prospective buyers for the foreign equity component in Dabhol Power Co (DPC). 
At a meeting chaired by the Finance Secretary, Mr Ajit Kumar, here, the domestic lenders have also been directed to revert to the Government with a blueprint for revival of the DPC which has been mired in controversy.
The institutions have been given three weeks time to come up with a concrete plan for resolving the issue. 
FIs have said that they would also be talking to Enron, the promoters of DPC, prior to zeroing in on a prospective buyer. 
Among the institutional representatives present at the meeting were the Chairman and Managing Director, IDBI, Mr P.P. Vora, the ICICI CMD, Mr K.V. Kamath, and the Chairman, State Bank of India (SBI), Mr Janki Ballabh. 
Institutional sources said that the buyers who have evinced interest for the Enron stake in DPC are mostly power companies. However, they did not want to discuss the names of the companies with which the FIs are likely to hold discussions. 
The Finance Ministry on its part has assured the lender that it would do whatever is needful for an early resolution of the issue. Thus, it has said that it would talk to other departments and the Maharashtra Government for an early resolution of the issue. 
It is understood that the FIs in their presentation before the Finance Secretary has said that the measures to resolve the impasse should include a rescheduling of loans to DPC by the lenders including a drastic reduction on interest rates. 
The FIs have also said that the DPC promoters, including Enron, Maharashtra Government and Bechtel should write off 50 per cent of the equity to facilitate the process of identifying a buyer for the stalled project. 
Our Bureau

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

MSEB refuses to buy DPC phase one power, plans load shedding

09/09/2001
Press Trust of India Limited
(c) 2001 PTI Ltd.

Mumbai, Sep 9 (PTI) The Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) on Sunday outrightly refused to commence its offtake of power from Enron's troubled Dabhol Power Company's (DPC) 740 mw phase one even as it gears up for load shedding in the western Indian state from September 20, due to power shortage. 
"DPC power is an expensive proposition, especially when when I am getting a mere 42 paise per unit in return for the costly power that is bought from the multinational to the tune of Rs 8.8 per unit", MSEB chairman Vinay Bansal told reporters here.
Over the two years, he said, MSEB had paid DPC Rs 17 billion as its monthly payments and as opposed to it the loss making board could recover only Rs 3.50 billion to Rs four billion, thus incurring a loss of Rs 13.4 billion. 
"MSEB can take the power for which its consumers can pay for and since the consumers are not in such a position, the board cannot resume its offtake from DPC", Bansal said. 
He said such a decision would "weaken" the board's position in the on-going legal battle with the multinational. 
He said MSEB had offered to continue drawal of power from the US energy major when it had rescinded the power purchase agreement, which was then refused by DPC. 
Detailing the board's loadshedding programme, Bansal said this year MSEB has estimated a shortage of about 1,500 mw for few years which would be met with planned loadshedding in the entire state. 
"There is no escape from such a measure", he said adding poor monsoons, less availability of online capacity and over overhauls were few reasons for load shedding. 
(THROUGH ASIA PULSE) 09-09 2001

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Westerners look to windmills as possible saviors of a way of life
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer

09/09/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

WALLULA JUNCTION, Wash. (AP) - Like many ranchers facing pressure from developers, Shirley Hindman worries that one day she might have to break up her Nine Mile Ranch, one of the largest spreads in the Walla Walla Valley. 
"That would make me sick," she says.
But now she and her father, Billy, have found another way to protect their 14,000 acres of sagebrush-covered hills and canyonland. The answer has come in the wind - something "we have plenty of," she says. 
And something also in growing demand. 
Soon the ridgelines across Highway 12 from Hindman's corrals will be dotted by windmills. By next year Hindman and several other property owners, including a nearby college, expect to be landlords to the world's largest wind farm. 
Along southeastern Washington and into neighboring Oregon, 450 Danish-built windmills - sleek white towers 200 feet high with rotors 200 feet across - will churn out enough power for 75,000 families served by Pacificorp, one of the Northwest's leading electric utilities. 
Nearly 100 of the wind turbines already are producing. Gravel roads and concrete slabs for the others are in place. "It will help us keep Nine Mile. It will help us sustain a way of life," says Hugh Preston, Ms. Hindman's husband. 
More than just an economic hedge for farmers and ranchers, wind farms across the West and upper Midwest are emerging as a growing part of the nation's electricity picture. Major projects are operating or earmarked for completion within a year in Texas, Montana, Minnesota, Kansas and Nevada. 
While North Dakota is the highest-ranking state for wind energy potential, its prairies have yet to be developed. The biggest hurdle is the need to upgrade the transmission network to handle any power generated by wind turbines, said Jay Haley, an engineer and wind energy promoter from Grand Forks. 
Still, Haley said as many as 20 economic development groups from more than 50 communities have been formed to build wind farms. Later this year, the Cass County Rural Electric Co-op plans to put up the state's first turbine near Oriska. The 900-kilowatt turbine will have the capacity to supply 500 homes with power annually, Haley said. 
While windmills still account for only a fraction of 1 percent of the electricity produced in the United States, they no longer are the exotic playthings of a few dreamers. Increasingly, big-time players are showing interest in wind to supplement fossil fuel-powered electricity plants, nuclear reactors and hydroelectric dams. 
"Wind is a technology that's now reliable and proven," says Robert Morrison, vice president for renewable business development at FPL Energy, the Florida-based company building the 300-megawatt Oregon-Washington project. The cost of generating electricity from wind has declined from 38 cents a kilowatt-hour 20 years ago, to 3 to 5 cents a kilowatt hour in today's larger projects, says the industry. That's competitive with natural gas. 
"Suddenly this stuff is economical," says Morrison, whose company has other wind projects under way or being planned in a half-dozen states including Texas, Kansas and Wisconsin. 
Other emerging players include Enron, the giant Houston-based energy conglomerate, and the government's Bonneville Power Administration, which this year sought $1 billion worth of wind energy projects and received more bids than expected. 
"The response blew us away," said George Darr, Bonneville's manager for renewable resources. Some of the projects will begin operating late next year. 
Windmills now account for only about 2,500 megawatts of generating capacity nationwide, but the production is expected almost to double by the end of 2001 to provide enough electricity for 1.3 million households. The industry anticipates that in two decades wind power will grow to 100,000 megawatts and account for 6 percent of the country's electricity. 
In comparison, nuclear power currently provides about 20 percent of U.S. electricity, coal-fired plants 52 percent. 
Wind's sudden popularity has astounded even its biggest boosters. 
"We are in a boom year," says Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association, the industry's trade group in Washington, D.C. "We are expecting huge growth, especially in the West." 
That is good news for David Bittersdorf, president of NRG Systems Inc., a Vermont company that makes wind-measuring devices. "We've grown 40 percent this year," he says. His company, which had $10 million in sales, expects business to quadruple over the next five years. 
For the Hindman family at Nine Mile Ranch, turbines rising from the scrub mean cash in the bank, while not interfering with their 700 head of cattle. Typically, farmers and ranchers involved in such lease arrangements get about $2,000 a year per turbine. 
"Wind is a very lucrative crop for farmers," says Bill Clemens, president of the chamber of commerce in nearby Walla Walla. The windmills are "a real curiosity" and may even add to the valley's tourist trade, he said. 
Ironically, the region does not provide the most ideal locations for wind power. 
What some call the Saudi Arabia of wind stretches from eastern Montana and the Dakotas, through Nebraska, Kansas and into Texas - a region with enough wind potential to power the nation, according to the Energy Department. 
James Dehlsen, an early wind energy pioneer, dreams of putting together a massive wind complex of 2,000 turbines stretching over 90 miles of prairie in South Dakota. It would be 10 times as large as the Washington-Oregon project and produce a staggering 3,000 megawatts of electricity. 
"We're at the early stages of the project," said Dehlsen, founder of the Zond Corp., a U.S. wind turbine manufacturer that has since been bought by Enron. But he said he already has a commitments from 150 farmers for use of 176,000 acres. 
--- 
On the Net: U.S. Department of Energy: http://www.eren.doe.gov/wind 
American Wind Energy Association: http://www.awea.org

AP Photos WX101, WX102, WX103. AP Graphics: WIND ENERGY, WIND ENERGY STATS 
Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Business/Financial Desk; Section C
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
New Delhi To Intervene In a Dispute With Enron
By SARITHA RAI

09/08/2001
The New York Times
Page 3, Column 1
c. 2001 New York Times Company

BANGALORE, India, Sept. 7 -- India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, said today that the national government would intervene in a bitter dispute between the Enron Corporation and the state-run utility in Maharashtra state over power from the Dabhol Power Company, which Enron controls. 
''The federal government, in cooperation with the Maharashtra government, financial institutions and other partners, will facilitate an early and amicable resolution to the problem surrounding the Dabhol power project,'' Mr. Vajpayee said in New Delhi. He was speaking at a meeting of the government's advisory council on trade and industry.
The dispute between Dabhol Power and the Maharashtra utility, its sole customer, began earlier this year when the utility defaulted on $64 million in back payments, saying Dabhol's prices were too high. In May, Dabhol began the legal process of severing its contract with the utility; the utility retaliated by immediately halting power purchases, and the plant has been shut down. 
The two sides are in a six-month cooling-off period to give them time to iron out their differences; if they cannot reach a settlement by mid-November, the contract will be voided. Negotiations have made no headway so far. 
Enron said recently that it wanted out -- it intends to finish the nearly complete 1,444-megawatt second phase of the Dabhol project and then sell its 65 percent stake in Dabhol at cost. The project is the largest foreign investment yet made in India, with $2.9 billion spent so far, and pressure has been building on the Indian government to find a solution that will satisfy Enron and get the plant operating. 
On Thursday in New Delhi, the United States ambassador to India, Robert Blackwell, said the Dabhol dispute had darkened India's investment climate. Mr. Vajapyee said in his speech today that the government would overhaul the country's money-losing state utilities.

Photo: The Dabhol Power Company, south of Bombay, is seen by some as a symbol of how India deals with foreign investors. (Reuters) 
Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	



Finance, power, law secretaries discuss Dabhol

09/08/2001
The Times of India
Copyright (C) 2001 The Times of India; Source: World Reporter (TM)

NEW DELHI: Even as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee promised every effort by his government to broker an "amicable solution" to the blocked Dabhol power project, Union Finance Secretary Ajit Kumar convened yet another meeting here on Friday with his power and law counterparts and representatives of financial institutions to discuss an acceptable (to the Union) response to Enron Corporation's offer of sale of its majority equity in Dabhol. 
Vajpayee was speaking at a meeting with his advisory council on trade and industry, to check the depressed economic climate. He had, earlier, said he'd like to see something substantial in the works before he leaves for his US trip later this month.
At an earlier meeting convened by Ajit Kumar some weeks before, the FIs (their team is led by Industrial Development Bank of India) were asked to see if they could recommend an acceptable way of raising the Rs 11 bn needed to complete phase-II of the stuck project, to clear the way for a sale by Enron to third parties, since the Union doesn't wish to spend any of its own money. 
Enron has a 65 per cent stake in the project's Rs 100 bn equity; fellow transnational firms, Bechtel and GE have another 10 per cent each. The rest is with the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, which has locked horns with Enron, leading to the Dabhol unit's closure. 
There are also a host of lenders to the project, who've put in double the equity amount. Quite a few of them are willing to put in more money to complete phase-II, but they'd like the equity holders to reciprocate, too. With Enron insisting on pulling out if it doesn't get a quick solution to its standoff with MSEB, the Union is stuck with the problem. And is firm in not wanting to spend any of its money. 
The FIs will be meeting again with the three Union secretaries (the latter have been told to prepare the details of an acceptable recommendation), but the likely solution will have to, official say, incorporate something on the new rate of sale of Dabhol power, the issue which led to the famous standoff.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

BUSINESS
Business briefs
Business briefs / Houston & Texas
Staff, Bloomberg News, Reuters, Associated Press

09/08/2001
Houston Chronicle
3 STAR
2
(Copyright 2001)

EOTT to streamline financial structure 
EOTT Energy Partners, a crude-oil marketing and pipeline company, on Friday announced a plan to recapitalize and simplify its financial structure.
Enron Corp. and Koch Petroleum Group would convert 9 million subordinated units and additional partnership interests into 4.3 million publicly traded common units. 
This would make it easier for EOTT to make cash distributions to its unit holders, the company said. 
Also, EOTT plans to refinance $117 million in short-term debt that it took on with the June purchase of a processing plant, liquids storage and a pipeline grid. Parts of the plan require approval,which will be sought later this year, by two-thirds of its unit holders. 
EOTT Energy Corp., an Enron subsidiary, is general partner of EOTT Energy Partners. 

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Enron's Azurix Unit Threatens to Leave Argentina, Paper Says
2001-09-08 09:41 (New York)


     Buenos Aires, Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Azurix Buenos Aires SA,
a unit of No. 1 energy trader Enron Corp., said it will leave the
country if the province of Buenos Aires doesn't complete work it
agreed to, La Nacion newspaper reported.

     Azurix, a water utility, said current economic conditions
make it impractical to operate unless the government antes up with
promised public works, the paper said. The country is in a three-
year recession.

     Azurix said it has completed 70 percent of projects it agreed
to do so far. The government hasn't, the company said, though it
didn't specify what projects are yet to be completed, the
newspaper reported.

     The company told provincial governor Carlos Ruckauf it has
financing to operate for about more six months, by which time it
needs to secure more funds. Azurix will take the $540 million it
has invested if it leaves the country, the company said.



Enron Unit Bids to Supply Wind Power to California (Update1)
2001-09-07 19:09 (New York)

Enron Unit Bids to Supply Wind Power to California (Update1)

     (Adds gas-fired projects bids in seventh paragraph)

     Sacramento, California, Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A unit of
Enron Corp., the largest U.S. electricity trader, has submitted
plans to supply a California power agency with enough wind-
generated electricity to power more than half a million homes.

     Enron Wind Development Corp. wants to supply as much as 741
megawatts of electricity to the newly formed California Power and
Conservation Financing Authority. One megawatt is enough energy to
light 750 typical California homes.

     The agency has a mandate to issue $5 billion in bonds to buy
energy, build or buy power-generating facilities, buy transmission
lines or establish natural-gas reserves in an effort to protect
California from high prices in the state's deregulated energy
market.

     Enron submitted the most bids, six, to supply wind energy.
The authority also received offers from Cannon Energy Corp., EnXco
Inc., CalWind Resources Inc. and other alternative-energy
providers. A total of 27 wind proposals, representing about 2,600
megawatts of capacity, was filed to the agency. The authority also
received proposals from companies that want to supply geothermal
and biomass energy.

     ``We are going to consider each renewable energy project as a
viable way to help California create a 15 percent energy reserve
to protect the consumers,'' power authority board member John
Stevens said in a statement.

     The power authority is seeking to acquire more than 1,000
megawatts of alternative energy to be on line by next year's
hottest months. S. David Freeman, the chairman and interim chief
executive of the authority, has sole discretion to negotiate
contracts with power suppliers.

     Enron and Reliant Energy Inc. also have submitted proposals
to build and operate gas-fired plants. The state would own the
plants. Details of those bids are yet to be released.

     Last year, Freeman unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the
California Assembly. One of his campaign's biggest contributors
was Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, who contributed $7,500 to the
campaign. Enron has come under fire from state officials,
including Attorney General Bill Lockyer, for charging excessive
prices for power in California. Enron denies the accusations.

     The board of the California Power and Conservation Financing
Authority today discussed how to formulate its conflict-of-
interest policy.