This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN) is a Fortune 500 power company founded in 1984 in San Jose, California.

Calpine's headquarters were permanently moved from San Jose to Houston, Texas in 2009. The company's stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN until it was delisted on December 5, 2005 due to low share price. On 1/31/08, Calpine emerged from bankruptcy and now trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CPN. The company is headquartered in the Calpine Center in Downtown Houston.^[1]

History[link]

In response to the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, much legislation was passed that made domestic energy production an attractive enterprise. In 1984, Peter Cartwright and four of his co-workers, the Guy F. Atkinson Construction Company of South San Francisco, and the Electrowatt corporation struck an investment arrangement and Calpine was born with initial capital of US$1 million. It was essentially a Silicon Valley startup company. The name "Calpine" is derived from the company's California location and alpine, a reference to the Zürich home base of Electrowatt. Calpine is the world's largest provider of geothermal energy, and largest natural gas fueled power producer in North America.^[2]

As of 2011, the directors of Calpine are J. Stuart Ryan, Frank Cassidy, Jack A. Fusco, Robert C. Hinckley, David C. Merritt, W. Benjamin Moreland, Robert A. Mosbacher, Jr., William E. Oberndorf, and Denise M. O'Leary.^[3]

In 2004, the directors of Calpine Canada Energy Finance Ulc were Charles B. Clark Jr., Kenneth T. Derr, Jeffery E. Garten, Gerald Greenwald, Susan Schwab, George J. Stathakis, Susan Wang, and John O. Wilson.^[4]

• 1984: provider of management services for independent energy companies
• 1988: first power production
• 1992: assets of US $21 billion
• 1994: 141 MW capacity
• 1996: largest IPO ever for an independent energy company
• 1997: purchase of Montis Niger natural gas fields and pipelines in the Sacramento Valley
• 1998: purchased 45 gas turbine power plants
• 1999: purchased 18 gas turbine power plants
• 1999: purchase of Houston's Sheridan Energy, a gas exploration and production company
• 1999: acquired PG&E's plants at The Geysers, making Calpine the world's largest geothermal provider
• 2000: 3,355 MW capacity from 58 facilities
• 2001: Established Canadian headquarters offices in Calgary, Alberta Canada.
• 2001: purchase of first European facility in the United Kingdom
• 2001: world's ninth largest electricity producer
• 2001: stock price exceeds US$50.00 per share
• 2001: the California electricity crisis
• 2001: collapse of Enron Corporation
• 2001: a US$17 billion four-year growth drive with about 50% financing scaled back in face of economic downturn
• 2002: 13,000 MW capacity
• 2003: Calgary Energy Centre in Calgary, Alberta Canada goes online.
• 2004: 22,000 MW capacity; 89 energy centers in 21 states, Canada, and the UK
• 2004: Investment bank Lehman Brothers begins shorting Calpine, with researcher Christine Daley lacking confidence in the Calpine Chief Financial Officer, the accounting, and the high debt. This information spreads to clients of Lehman. By the time Calpine goes bankrupt in 2005, Lehman will profit roughly $100,000,000 from the short.^[5]
• 2005: November: CEO Peter Cartwright and CFO Bob Kelly are fired.^[6]
• 2005: December 20: Calpine files bankruptcy, US$22 billion in debt. Calpine's aggressive leveraged expansion plan was unsupportable in the economic environment formed by the 2000-2001 California energy crisis and the collapse of Enron. Stock price dropped to less than US$0.30 per share. Delisted from NYSE.
• 2008: On 1/31/08, Calpine emerges from bankruptcy. Previous stock was exchanged for warrants. New Calpine stock will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "CPN."
• 2009: Moved corporate headquarters from San Jose, California to Houston, Texas.
• 2010: Acquired Conectiv Energy (generation) from Pepco Holdings^[7]

Power plants[link]

This is an incomplete list.

• York Energy Center — a 565 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant located in Peach Bottom Township, York County, Pennsylvania
• Metcalf Energy Center — a 600 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant located in San Jose.
• The Geysers — 19 of the 21 geothermal plants. Entire complex has 1360 MW installed capacity, 1000 MW net.
• RockGen Energy Center, a 460 megawatt natural gas fired peaking power plant in the Town of Christiana, Dane County, Wisconsin
• Riverside Energy Center, a 600 megawatt natural gas fired base load power plant located in Town of Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin.
• Los Medanos Energy Center — a 561 megawatt natural gas fired co-generation power plant located in Pittsburg, California.
• EDGEMOOR POWER GENERATING STATION, Wilmington Delaware acquired with the purchase of Connective energy from PEPCO in July 2010. 760 Megawatt coal fired converted in July 2010 to natural Gas with additional peak turbine capacity of 350 Megawatts to be built. They also acquired 5 other power generating plants from PEPCO in the $1.63 billion deal
• Russell City Energy Center, 619 megawatt natural gas-fired plant under construction in Hayward, California, in the area formerly known as Russell City, California.^[8]

References[link]

1. ^ "Contact." Calpine. Retrieved on November 11, 2009.
2. ^ http://www.calpine.com/media/Calpine_Corporate_Overview_Feb_2009.pdf
3. ^ http://www.calpine.com/about/bdofdir.asp
4. ^ http://www.secinfo.com/dr6nd.117b.htm
5. ^ A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, Lawrence G McDonald, Patrick Robinson, Crown (Random House), 2009, p99-p105, 154
6. ^ McDonald, p 154
7. ^ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=103361&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1443628&highlight=
8. ^ [1]

• Editors, Scientific American (2004). The 2004 Scientific American 50 Award: Business Leaders. Retrieved February 7, 2006.
• Editors, World-Generation. Peter Cartwright. Retrieved February 10, 2006.
• Peters, Sara (2002). Calpine CEO shares wisdom, insight. Retrieved February 10, 2006.
• "Calpine to Trim Jobs, Shed Businesses to Reduce Costs". Los Angeles Times. 2 Feb 2006. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-calpine2feb02,1,3466491.story?coll=la-headlines-business. 
• Schlager, Neil (2006). Peter Cartwright, 1930-. Retrieved February 10, 2006.

External links[link]

• Calpine Corporation
• Calpine Corporation List of Power Plants
• Calpine stock price chart over the life of the company
• Electrowatt, early partner