Prince wind farm ownership to change

ABRIDGED NEWS RELEASE

GREAT LAKES HYDRO INCOME FUND

************************* Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund announces strategic acquisitions and $75 million bought-deal offering fund to acquire 189 MW Prince Wind facility and 50 percent interest in 45 MW Pingston Hydro joint venture

GATINEAU, QUEBEC - Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund (the "Fund") has announced its intention to acquire indirectly from Brookfield Renewable Power Inc. ("BRPI") a 49.9 percent interest in the following:

- The 189 MW Prince Wind farm in Ontario.

- A 50 percent joint venture interest in the 45 MW Pingston Hydro station in British Columbia.

Consideration for the proposed acquisitions is $130 million, of which 49.9 percent will be financed through the issuance of fund units to the public under a bought-deal financing, as well as a subscription by BRPI, on the closing of the acquisitions, of $65 million of shares exchangeable into fund units on a one-for-one basis (the "exchangeable shares") at a price equivalent to the pricing of the bought-deal financing.

Following closing of the proposed acquisition, BRPI will own a 50.01 percent interest in the fund on a fully exchanged basis.

Definitive agreements for the proposed acquisitions by the Fund are expected to be entered into on or about January 6, 2009 and the entering into of such definitive agreements are subject to satisfactory due diligence, the closing of the bought deal financing and the receipt of a written fairness opinion from the Fund's independent financial advisor, as described below.

Closing of the acquisitions is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2009.

Investment highlights of the projects:

- Enterprise value of approximately $462 million with existing project debt in place at each project.

- High-quality, long-life renewable power assets with stable and predictable cash flows.

- Long-term power purchase agreements with strong government counterparties.

- Assets generate an average of $42 million in EBITDA and $13 million of distributable cash flow annually.

- Favourable tax attributes including capital cost allowance and other expenses in excess of $240 million.

- Increased resource and geographic diversification.

"Prince Wind and Pingston Hydro are an excellent strategic fit within our existing portfolio and complement our strategy of owning high-quality, Canadian contracted renewable power assets," said Richard Legault, president and chief executive officer. "We know and understand these assets and their operating characteristics very well. Moreover, the addition of our first wind farm brings resource diversification."

The Fund will continue to seek opportunities for accretive growth in the renewable power sector.

About Prince Wind

Prince Wind, one of Canada's largest wind farms, is located northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, has an installed capacity of 189 MW and commenced operation in November 2006.

Since commissioning, Prince Wind has achieved overall availability averaging 97 percent.

All power produced by Prince Wind is sold to the Ontario Power Authority ("OPA") under two power purchase agreements ("PPAs") expiring in 2026 and 2028, respectively.

The PPAs, which are take-or-pay arrangements, have prices which are adjusted annually at 15 percent of the Canadian Consumer Price Index ("CPI").

The OPA is rated AA (low) by Dominion Bond Rating Service ("DBRS") and "AA" by Standard & Poor's ("S&P").

Prince Wind also receives an additional $10 per megawatt-hour from the Canadian Federal EcoEnergy Program, which expires March 31, 2017.

Prince Wind is expected to produce average annual generation of approximately 506 GWh, and to mitigate potential fluctuations in revenue due to the wind resource, upon closing of the proposed acquisition, BRPI and Great Lakes Power Trust ("GLPT"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Fund, will enter into a wind levelization agreement.

Under the wind levelization agreement, BRP and GLPT will, for a period of 10 years from closing of the proposed acquisitions, make annual compensating payments to each other depending on variances in wind generation based on a base level of 506 GWh annually.

Prince Wind is party to a maintenance, operations and management agreement with an affiliate of BRPI, whereby all management services are provided for an initial term of 20 years, and is automatically renewed for successive one year periods, up to 20 years.

Acquisition approval

In considering the proposed acquisitions, the board of trustees of the Fund formed a special committee of trustees who are independent of BRP (the "Independent Committee") to review the transaction and to determine whether it is in the best interests of the Fund.

To assist in its evaluation of the proposed transaction, the Independent Committee retained Blair Franklin Capital Partners Inc., an independent and qualified financial advisor, to provide a fairness opinion with respect to the proposed transactions, and independent legal counsel.

The entering into of definitive agreements for the proposed acquisitions are subject to the financial advisor providing a written opinion that the consideration being paid is fair from a financial point of view to the unitholders of the Fund, other than BRP and also subject to satisfactory due diligence, the negotiation of the terms and conditions of the definitive agreements and the closing of the bought deal financing.

In connection with the proposed acquisitions, S&P and DBRS have re-affirmed the Fund's stability ratings of SR-2 (stable) and STA-2 (high), respectively.

The closing of the acquisitions are subject to customary closing conditions and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, which are expected to be received prior to February 28, 2009.

About Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund

Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund (www.greatlakeshydro.com) is a premier Canadian income fund.

We are the largest power income fund in North America with 1,021 megawatts of power generating capacity and an average annual production of 3,912 gigawatt hours.

Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund produces electricity exclusively from environmentally friendly renewable resources.

The Fund owns, operates and manages 26 high quality hydroelectric generating stations located on eight river systems in four distinct geographic regions across North America: Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and New England.

Brookfield Renewable Power, which comprises all the power operations of Brookfield Asset Management, owns 50.01 percent of the Fund's outstanding units.

Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund units are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GLH.UN.

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