(TUCKER, October 3, 2006) - Georgia's oldest renewable energy program, Green Power EMC, has added two new members, Rayle and Upson Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), and now boasts 31participating EMCs. Headquartered in Washington, Ga., and Thomaston, Ga., respectively, Rayle and Upson EMCs bring another 21,000 consumers to Green Power EMC which now offers green energy to a total of 1.5 million households.

"We recognized five years ago the importance of offering environmentally friendly energy," said Green Power EMC President Michael Whiteside. "It's gratifying to see Green Power EMC grow and to work with other cooperatives that place such a priority on offering consumers non-traditional sources of energy."

Created in 2001, Green Power EMC was originally a partnership of 31 Georgia cooperatives to contract for electricity generated by renewable resources, like biomass, solar and low-impact hydro. To date, Green Power EMC has generated more than 90 million kilowatt hours of electricity from two landfill gas to electricity projects and a low impact hydroelectric project. Customers signing up for green power pay an additional charge each month ranging from $3 to $5 per 150 kilowatt-hour block, depending upon the participating EMC.

Most recently, Green Power EMC has been seeking additional sources of green energy and earlier this year announced plans to purchase 20 megawatts of electricity from the first poultry litter-to-energy operation in Georgia.

The electricity will be provided by Earth Resources Inc., which is constructing a chicken litter-to-electricity plant near Carnesville, Ga., about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta. The Franklin County plant will be the first in the state to use a gasification system to convert poultry litter into a useful product - electricity.

Additionally, Green Power EMC in August 2005 launched a test to evaluate the potential of wind generation in Georgia and recently completed the one-year data collection period. The wind data was gathered from a meteorological tower temporarily installed near the upper reservoir of Oglethorpe Power Corporation's Rocky Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Plant in Floyd County, Ga.

Currently, Green Power EMC is reviewing a technical analysis to determine the economic feasibility of wind generation in Georgia. If a decision is made to move forward, the wind project would most likely begin generating electricity in 2008.

Early projects of Green Power EMC include the Roberts Road landfill facility in Fayette County, generating one megawatt of power to the statewide electric grid, along with four megawatts of electricity generated at the Taylor County landfill near Columbus, the site of Georgia's first renewable energy facility.

Green Power EMC also added to its generating capacity a low impact hydroelectric generating plant at Tallassee Shoals in Athens, which produces two megawatts of electricity.

Participating electric cooperatives in Green Power EMC include Altamaha, Amicalola, Canoochee, Carroll, Cobb, Coastal Electric, Coweta-Fayette, Diverse Power, Flint Energies, GreyStone Power, Grady, Habersham, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Jefferson Energy, Little Ocmulgee, Mitchell, Ocmulgee, Planters, Rayle, Sawnee, Slash Pine, Snapping Shoals, Southern Rivers Energy, Sumter, Three Notch, Tri-County, Upson, Walton and Washington EMCs.

Collectively, the 42 customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to four million people, nearly half of Georgia's population, across 73 percent of the state's land area. Georgia's 42 electric membership cooperatives now serve more customers than any other state network of EMCs in the nation.

For more information on Green Power EMC, visit www.greenpoweremc.com.