FACTS solution to maintain grid reliability and improve environment in Texas

Zurich, Switzerland, April 9, 2009 – ABB, a power and automation technology group, has won an order worth around $20 million from Oncor to supply a Static VAr Compensator (SVC) unit to support the transmission grid in north Texas. The order was booked in the first quarter and the turnkey project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2010.

The SVC unit will be installed at the Renner substation in the northern part of the state. ABB has won three similar orders from Oncor in the past, most recently in 2008 for a project in the vicinity of Renner. The first two SVC units, delivered to the Parkdale substation in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are scheduled to begin operations in mid-2009. The Parkdale installation is the world’s largest cluster of SVC technology.

SVC devices provide fast-acting reactive power compensation in high-voltage electricity networks, which enhances stability by countering fluctuations in the voltage and current of an electric grid, and by allowing more power to flow through the network. The technology is part of ABB’s family of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) solutions that increase the capacity of existing transmission networks and improve their reliability.

“This is an innovative ‘no wires’ solution designed to improve energy efficiency, help maintain an uninterrupted flow of electricity and enhance grid reliability,” said Per Haugland, head of the Grid Systems business within ABB’s Power Systems division. “It will also facilitate future integration of wind power and other renewables, as grids get smarter.”

“The robust design and flexibility of Static VAr Compensators will allow Oncor to continue to reliably operate the transmission grid in North Texas with less dependence on local generation,” said Oncor senior vice president Jim Greer. “ABB worked hard to develop an electrical power solution that will keep pace with the North Texas area’s ever increasing power demands, while enabling the improvement of the local environment.”

Oncor serves more than seven million customers in Texas and operates the largest distribution and transmission system in the state, with some 164,000 kilometers of distribution and 22,500 kilometers of transmission lines.

About ABB

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people. The company’s North American operations, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, employ about 15,000 people in 20 manufacturing and other major facilities.

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ABB Media Relations

Bill Rose

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bill.rose@us.abb.com

April 1, 2009, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS – Today Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), Lincoln Electric System (LES), and Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) completed their transition to membership in Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP), a regional transmission organization headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. SPP now serves as the reliability coordinator for the Nebraska entities, and is responsible for maintaining reliable operation of the bulk electric grid in the organizations’ geographic area. In March, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation certified that SPP has the necessary tools, processes, training, and procedures to perform as the reliability coordinator for this expanded footprint.

NPPD, LES, and OPPD are now participating in the SPP energy imbalance service market, and SPP is administering transmission service for the organizations. “Transition to SPP provides a positive and timely opportunity for LES and all of Nebraska,” said Doug Bantam, Vice President of LES Power Supply. “Participation in this established, and yet evolving, energy market will enhance our options for dealing with a rapidly changing energy industry.”

The Nebraska entities will also be included in SPP’s transmission planning processes. “We believe SPP’s forward-looking regional transmission and construction planning process will offer benefits to NPPD and our customers,” said Pat Pope, NPPD vice president and chief operating officer. “NPPD looks forward to participating in SPP and accessing the opportunities of its energy market.”

With the addition of NPPD, LES, and OPPD, SPP’s reliability coordinator geographic footprint expanded by 30%, and its miles of transmission lines increased 16%. The number of states in which SPP manages transmission increased from seven to eight. According to SPP President and CEO Nick Brown, “The addition of the Nebraska organizations will add more diversity to SPP’s generation mix and broaden our regional energy marketplace, adding value for all of our members.”

“OPPD focuses on providing affordable, reliable electric service to our customer-owners,” said OPPD President Gary Gates. “Our entry into Southwest Power Pool with our Nebraska colleagues will help drive those efforts.”

About SPP

Southwest Power Pool, Inc. is a group of 54 members serving more than five million customers across nine states of the Eastern Interconnection. Membership is comprised of investor-owned utilities, municipal systems, generation and transmission cooperatives, state authorities, wholesale generators, power marketers, and independent transmission companies. SPP’s footprint includes 26 balancing authorities, 47,000 miles of transmission lines, and 370,000 square miles of service territory.

SPP was a founding member of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation in 1968, and was designated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) in 2004 and a Regional Entity (RE) in 2007. As an RTO, SPP ensures reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure, and competitive wholesale prices of electricity. The SPP RE oversees compliance enforcement and reliability standards development.

April 8, 2009, Minneapolis, MN — Open Systems International, Inc. (OSI) and its Mexican partner, Automatización y Tecnología Mexicana SA de CV (Atemex), have been awarded a contract by División de Distribución Centro Occidente, headquartered in Morelia, Mexico, for a modern centralized SCADA System and future Distribution Management System (DMS).

División de Distribución Centro Occidente delivers energy services to about 1,770,000 customers in the Mexican states of Michoacán, Colima and part of Jalisco. The SCADA/DMS will maximize the division’s efficiency by combining four prior legacy control systems into a single and unified divisional node located in a new control center in Purepero, Michoacán. The capabilities of the new system will allow División de Distribución Centro Occidente to operate more efficiency as well as maintain operative flexibility at the regional levels by allowing remote control of specific elements of the distribution network by local personnel.

The system for División de Distribución Centro Occidente is based on the advanced monarch™ (Multi-platform Open Network ARCHitecture) technology on the Linux platform and includes Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, Web-based Graphical User Interface, Historical Information and Archiving System, Trending and Calculation subsystem, Open Database Connectivity, and DNP communications, as well as the capability to readily add future Distribution Network Analysis applications. The monarch system is based on an open and scalable platform that will fulfill División de Distribución Centro Occidente’s immediate needs as well as those of the future.

“At Atemex, we are thrilled to embark on this project with CFE’s División de Distribución Centro Occidente. This project will see a very significant, important and interesting change in the operation and control of the division’s electrical substations and distribution network, which will be under a single unified Control Center located in Purepero, Michoacán, constituting a reliable, modern and secure Central Divisional Node and maximizing the use of CFE’s own Fiber Optic network for the communications infrastructure. The first phase the project will be undertaken by Atemex and will consist of transferring the Zamora, La Piedad and Jiquilpan areas to the new system. The remaining zones will be migrated by CFE personnel over the course of the year with Atemex support,” said Luis Teran, President of Atemex.

“OSI welcomes División de Distribución Centro Occidente to our family of users with open arms and is looking forward to a successful CFE, Atemex and OSI partnership. The shared goal is to deliver a truly revolutionary system for one of the leading CFE divisions in Mexico, which will become an exceptional model for many other CFE divisions across the country. We take pride in División de Distribución Centro Occidente’s choice of OSI’s monarch platform to achieve operational and administrative excellence for their supervisory control and data acquisition responsibilities,” added Bahman Hoveida, President and CEO of OSI.

About CFE

CFE (www.cfe.gob.mx/) is a Mexican public corporation and government agency that was founded in 1937. CFE’s mission is to provide generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization of electric energy for 26.4 million customers of Mexico’s population of almost 80 million people, making it the largest electric utility in Mexico, and one the largest in North America. División de Distribución Centro Occidente is one of several CFE’s divisions throughout Mexico and provides electric energy to over 1,700,000 customers.

About Atemex

Atemex is a Mexican automation company with a solid technical background and outstanding reputation. Atemex designs and manufactures RTUs, SCADA communication accessories and data concentrators for electrical utilities in the Mexican market. OSI and Atemex have worked together since September 2007 to bring state-of-the-art OSI technology to control centers in México. Atemex is headquartered in Chihuahua, Mexico.

OSI (www.osii.com) provides automation solutions to electric utilities worldwide. These solutions include Energy Management Systems (EMS), Distribution Management Systems (DMS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems, and Generation Management Systems (GMS), as well as individual software products and Smart Grid solutions for electric utility operations. OSI is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Contact:

For additional information regarding this news release please contact news@osii.com.