HAMILTON, BERMUDA--(Marketwire - May 7, 2012) - Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners L.P. (TSX:BEP.UN) -

Investors, analysts and other interested parties can access Brookfield Renewable's 2012 first quarter results as well as the Letter to Unitholders and Supplemental Information on the web site under the Investor Relations section at [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com ].

The 2012 first quarter results conference call can be accessed via webcast on May 7, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. ET at [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com ] or via teleconference at 1-800-319-4610 toll free in North America. For overseas calls please dial 1-604-638-5340, at approximately 9:50 a.m. ET. The teleconference taped rebroadcast can be accessed at 1-800-319-6413 (password: 1557#) until midnight on June 7, 2012.

All amounts in U.S. dollars unless stated otherwise

Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners L.P. ("Brookfield Renewable") today announced its results for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

Brookfield Renewable was launched on November 28, 2011 as a result of the combination of Brookfield Renewable Power Fund and the renewable power assets of Brookfield Renewable Power Inc. We are providing a comparison of the financial results on a consolidated basis for the three months ended March 31, 2012 to results on a pro forma basis for the three months ended March 31, 2011. In addition, we are also providing financial information on a proforma basis for 2011 and 2012, assuming generation at a long-term average (LTA) level.

Financial Results

"Brookfield Renewable is off to an excellent start in 2012," said Richard Legault, Chief Executive Officer. "Our portfolio, including our newly commissioned hydro and wind facilities, is performing well and our leadership position among pure-play renewable power companies remains strong. We have significantly expanded our presence in the attractive California power market, and the recent increase in our quarterly distribution to the annualized rate of $1.38 per unit reflects this growth in our portfolio and the strength of our cash flows. Looking forward, we continue to explore exciting new growth opportunities, and have moved forward with our plans to enhance our capital markets profile and achieve a New York Stock Exchange listing with our recent filing of a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

For the first quarter of 2012, Brookfield Renewable's FFO increased $53 million year-over-year to $175 million ($0.67 per unit) reflecting higher generation due to improved water inflows and growth in our portfolio.

Review of Operations

Generation in the first quarter was 4,817 GWh or 23% higher than 3,924 GWh in 2011, and 6% higher than the long-term average of 4,557 GWh. The increase in hydroelectric generation over the prior year reflects strong inflows in North America from the arrival of early spring conditions, as well as a new facility in Brazil. Generation from wind was also above expectations and considerably higher than the prior year due to improved wind conditions in Eastern Canada and the contribution from newly built or acquired wind farms in Canada and the United States.

The tables below summarize generation by segment and region:

As previously announced, Brookfield Renewable and certain institutional partners recently acquired 223 MW of new wind generation assets in California's Tehachapi region, including a 150 MW wind farm, an incremental 50% interest in an existing 102 MW project, and a further 22 MW of operating wind generation. Construction of the 102 MW wind project in California was completed and the wind farm entered commercial operations at the end of the first quarter. Our 99 MW wind farm in New Hampshire was also commissioned in the first quarter.

Construction of two hydroelectric facilities in Brazil totaling 48 MW of capacity is progressing on scope, schedule and budget, while the 45 MW hydroelectric project on the Kokish River in Western Canada is expected to begin construction in the summer of 2012.

Liquidity and Capital Program

Brookfield Renewable uses a combination of operating cash flows and credit facilities to fund its operations, and maintain adequate liquidity to achieve its objectives for growth, capital investment and distributions to unitholders.

During the quarter, Brookfield Renewable issued C$400 million of 10-year term notes. The proceeds were used to reduce borrowings, extend the term on our overall maturity profile, and reduce cost of capital. We also increased our corporate credit facilities from $600 million to $900 million, which was expanded to include new financial institutions with global reach.

As at March 31, 2012, total liquidity was approximately $945 million, consisting of $249 million of cash and cash equivalents and $696 million of undrawn amounts from our revolving credit facilities.

Distribution Declaration

The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly distribution in the amount of US$0.345 per unit, payable on July 31, 2012 to limited partnership unitholders of record as at the close of business on June 30, 2012. The regular quarterly dividend on the Brookfield Renewable Power Preferred Equity Inc. preferred shares has also been declared.

Information on the limited partnership unit distributions and preferred share dividends can be found on Brookfield Renewable's website at [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com ] under Investor Relations.

Distribution Reinvestment Plan

Brookfield Renewable maintains a Distribution Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") which allows holders of its limited partnership units who are resident in Canada to acquire additional units by reinvesting all or a portion of their cash distributions without paying commissions. Information on the DRIP, including details on how to enrol, is available on Brookfield Renewable's website at [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com/DRIP ].

Additional Information

The Letter to Unitholders and the Supplemental Information for the period ended March 31, 2012 contain further information on Brookfield Renewable's strategy, operations and financial results. Unitholders are encouraged to read these documents, which are available at [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com ].

Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners(TSX:BEP.UN) operates one of the largest publicly-traded, pure-play renewable power platforms globally. Its portfolio is primarily hydroelectric and totals approximately 5,000 megawatts of installed capacity. Diversified across 67 river systems and 10 power markets in the United States, Canada and Brazil, the portfolio generates enough electricity from renewable resources to power two million homes on average each year. With a virtually fully-contracted portfolio of high-quality assets and strong growth prospects, the business is positioned to generate stable, long-term cash flows supporting regular and growing cash distributions to unitholders. For more information, please visit [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com ].

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and information, within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, concerning the business and operations of Brookfield Renewable. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements in this News Release include statements regarding the quality of Brookfield Renewable's assets and the resiliency of the cash flow they will generate, Brookfield Renewable's anticipated financial performance, the future growth prospects and distribution profile of Brookfield Renewable, Brookfield Renewable's access to capital, the listing of our limited partnership units on the New York Stock Exchange and the construction of the Kokish River hydroelectric project. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "scheduled", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potentially", "tends", "continue", "attempts", "likely", "primarily", "approximately", "endeavours", "pursues", "strives", "seeks" or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Although we believe that our anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information in this News Release are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, we cannot assure you that such expectations will prove to have been correct. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information as such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: changes to hydrology at our hydroelectric stations or in wind conditions at our wind energy facilities; the risk that counterparties to our contracts do not fulfill their obligations, and as our contracts expire, we may not be able to replace them with agreements on similar terms; increases in water rental costs (or similar fees) or changes to the regulation of water supply; our operations being highly regulated and exposed to increased regulation which could result in additional costs; the risk that our concessions and licenses will not be renewed; increases in the cost of operating our plants; our failure to comply with conditions in, or our inability to maintain, governmental permits; equipment failure; dam failures and the costs of repairing such failures; force majeure events; exposure to uninsurable losses; adverse changes in currency exchange rates; our inability to access interconnection facilities and transmission systems; occupational, health, safety and environmental risks; disputes and litigation; losses resulting from fraud, other illegal acts, inadequate or failed internal processes or systems, or from external events; general industry risks relating to the North American and Brazilian power market sectors; advances in technology that impair or eliminate the competitive advantage of our projects; newly developed technologies in which we invest not performing as anticipated; labour disruptions and economically unfavourable collective bargaining agreements; risks related to operating in Brazil; our inability to finance our operations; the operating and financial restrictions imposed on us by our loan, debt and security agreements; changes in our credit ratings; changes to government regulations that provide incentives for renewable energy; our inability to identify and complete sufficient investment opportunities; the growth of our portfolio; our inability to develop existing sites or find new sites suitable for the development of greenfield projects; risks associated with the development of our generating facilities and the various types of arrangements we enter into with communities and joint venture partners; Brookfield Asset Management's inability to source acquisition opportunities for us and our lack of access to all renewable power acquisitions that Brookfield Asset Management identifies; our lack of control over all our operations; our obligations to issue equity or debt for future acquisitions and developments; a delay or inability to achieve a listing of our limited partnership units on the New York Stock Exchange; and foreign laws or regulation to which we become subject as a result of future acquisitions in new markets.

We caution that the foregoing list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements represent our views as of the date of this News Release and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to May 7, 2012, the date of this News Release. While we anticipate that subsequent events and developments may cause our views to change, we disclaim any obligation to update the forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law. For further information on these known and unknown risks, please see "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Information Form available on our website at [ www.brookfieldrenewable.com ] and filed on SEDAR at [ www.sedar.com ].

Cautionary Statement Regarding use of non-IFRS Accounting Measures

This News Release contains references to EBITDA and FFO which are not generally accepted accounting measures under IFRS and therefore may differ from definitions of EBITDA and FFO, used by other entities. We believe that EBITDA and FFO are useful supplemental measures that may assist investors in assessing the financial performance and the cash anticipated to be generated by our operating portfolio. Neither EBITDA nor FFO should be considered as the sole measure of our performance and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, analysis of our financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. As a result of the combination, we have presented these measurements on a pro forma basis.

Contributing Sources

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