CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/22/09 -- TransCanada (TSX: TRP) (NYSE: TRP) will commence open seasons for the Zephyr and Chinook power transmission lines on October 13, 2009. The proposed projects would transport significant amounts of wind-generated electricity from the high-quality wind resources in Wyoming and Montana to markets in the U.S. Southwest, including California, Nevada and Arizona. The projects would promote U.S. national and state policy goals to facilitate construction of new renewable energy generation and would provide substantial benefits to the western power grid.

Each of the proposed 500 kilovolt high-voltage, direct-current projects would be more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) long, have 3,000 megawatts of capacity, and would terminate in the Eldorado Valley near Las Vegas, Nevada. The Zephyr project would originate in southeast Wyoming, and the Chinook project would originate in southwest Montana.

Bidder conferences will be in Las Vegas for companies that are interested in participating in the open seasons. The Zephyr bidder conference will take place on October 14, 2009, and Chinook's will occur on October 15, 2009. Both sessions will be restricted to qualified industry participants and a confidentiality agreement must be completed prior to participation in either the bidder conferences or the open seasons. A copy of the confidentiality agreement can be obtained by contacting Chinook@transcanada.com or Zephyr@transcanada.com. More information is available at www.transcanada.com, and as the open season approaches, additional information will be posted to the web site.

TransCanada will determine whether or not to proceed with the necessary regulatory applications for each project, which would include a stakeholder engagement process with landowners, public officials, agencies and other interested parties, after sufficient firm commitments have been received from the open seasons. The decision to proceed will be made for each project individually.

With more than 50 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas pipelines, power generation, gas storage facilities, and projects related to oil pipelines. TransCanada's network of wholly owned pipelines extends more than 36,500 miles (59,000 kilometres), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent's largest providers of gas storage and related services with approximately 370 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns, or has interests in, approximately 10,900 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States.