GMP Green Mountain Pwr Corp

Green Mountain Power (NYSE: GMP) and the University of Vermont announced today a partnership to demonstrate a technology that treats manure from a farmer's pit with an electrical charge, resulting in a reduction of phosphorus and other nutrients and nearly eliminating odor. Green Mountain Power is purchasing a mobile unit from ElectroCell Technologies of Colchester, which will be tested at UVM and then made available to farm customers in its service territory to help them comply with stricter state and federal regulatory run-off reduction requirements that are expected this spring. "We're very interested in the potential of this technology to help our farm customers and to protect the environment, particularly Lake Champlain," said Chris Dutton, president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power. "We are committed to the use of technology to provide superior service and we think ElectroCell is a perfect match for our environmental protection orientation." The technology was developed in Israel and licensed in North America to ElectroCell Technologies. The University of Vermont's Center for Emerging Technologies served as the incubator for this manure treatment system. Run-off from phosphorus-filled fertilizer and manure may contribute to toxic algae blooms in Lake Champlain. Controlling phosphorus is an expensive, difficult proposition for farmers. "This technology has the promise to create an effective, affordable solution to one of the nation's primary environmental concerns for agriculture," said Daniel Mark Fogel, president of the University of Vermont. "Developing new environmental technologies and services that can be commercialized to help Vermont, the nation and the world improve the environment is a natural role for Vermont, and we're pleased that UVM's Center for Emerging Technologies is playing a pivotal part in incubating and launching a company in this promising business sector." Buzz Hoerr, president and chief executive officer of ElectroCell Technologies, said, "There is no one solution that will neatly solve all of a farmer's phosphorus problems, but we believe that ElectroCell can play a very important role in helping a farmer reach his or her environmental goals and requirements." ElectroCell Technologies has begun to manufacture units in South Burlington, through a partnership with Peck Electric, that include improvements on its original design developed in Israel, including enhanced computer programming. In order to measure the effects of these enhancements during the demonstration, the UVM Soil Sciences Lab will measure bacterial and nutrient changes as a way to determine what adjustments to the treatment process may be needed to refine the system. When that process is complete, the unit will be made available to Green Mountain Power farm customers. For further information, please contact Dorothy Schnure, manager of corporate communications, at 802-655-8418, Tom Rainey, president Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, University of Vermont, at 802-656-3880, or Buzz Hoerr, president and chief executive officer, ElectroCell Technologies, 802-863-2486.