Emera, Newfoundand & Labrador Reach Churchill Project Development Deal

Emera Inc. (EMA.T) has reached an agreement with Canada's easternmost province of Newfoundland and Labrador to develop the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project, which could result in a total investment by all parties involved of C$6.2 billion.

Under the deal, Nalcor, Newfoundland and Labrador's Crown-owned energy corporation, will build generating facilities at Muskrat Falls at cost of C$2.9 billion. Emera will invest about C$600 million of the total C$2.1 billion cost of building a transmission link from Labrador to the island of Newfoundland and will fund the total C$1.2 billion cost of building the Martime Link, a subsea transmission link connecting Newfoundland to Nova Scotia.

The Emera and Nalcor deal will include the creation of a joint regulated transmission utility in Newfoundland and Labrador to be owned 71% by Nalcor and 29% by Emera.

The deal is subject to a number of conditions, including final approval of the boards of Emera and Nalcor Energy and regulatory approvals in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nalcor has been in talks with Emera and the Maritime provinces about a plan to move hydroelectric power from the Churchill River in Labrador through Newfoundland and into Nova Scotia.

-By Judy McKinnon, Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2100; [e-mail]