PHOENIX – Pinnacle West Energy announced today that its newest combined-cycle generating plant – Unit 5 at the West Phoenix Power Station – has successfully completed extensive performance and reliability testing and is commercially available. The plant began producing electricity when testing started in February.

Construction began on the 530-megawatt natural gas-fired unit in the summer of 2001 and the project was completed on budget. With this new plant and the 120-megawatt Unit 4 that began operating in mid-2001, the West Phoenix station now has more than 1,000 megawatts of gas-fired generating capacity. Units 4 and 5 were built to serve the electricity needs of Arizona customers, particularly in the fast-growing Phoenix area where transmission constraints make local generation essential to ensure reliability. These units, along with the units at Redhawk and Saguaro, are serving APS customers today.

"We built these plants to provide reliable electric service to our Arizona customers and they have performed in outstanding fashion," said Jack Davis, president of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., parent company of Pinnacle West Energy and APS. "This is a noteworthy day for Pinnacle West and all of Arizona. These are important resources that will power our economy for many years to come."

Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW) is a Phoenix-based company with consolidated assets of approximately $9 billion. Through its subsidiaries, the company generates, sells and delivers electricity and sells energy-related products and services to retail and wholesale customers in the western United States. It also develops residential, commercial and industrial real estate projects.

Contacts

Media:
Jim McDonald, (602) 250-3738; (602) 321-3738 (cell)
Sheri Foote, (602) 250-2363; (602) 684-1332 (cell)

Analyst:
Lisa Malagon, (602) 250-5671