Calpine

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For the town in California, see Calpine, California.
Calpine Corporation logo

Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN) is a power company founded in 1984 with headquarters in San Jose, California. 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."

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[edit] History

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. The name "Calpine" is derived from the company's California location and alpine, a reference to the Zürich home base of Electrowatt.

As of 2006, the directors of Calpine are Kenneth T. Derr, Glenn H. Hiner, William J. Keese, Robert P. May, David C. Merritt, Walter L. Revell, George J. Stathakis, and Susan Wang.

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.[1]

  • 1984: provider of management services for independent energy companies
  • 1988: first power production
  • 1992: assets of $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
  • 1999:
  • 2000: 3,355 MW capacity from 58 facilities
  • 2001: the California electricity crisis
  • 2001: purchase of first European facility in the United Kingdom
  • 2001: a US$17 billion four-year growth drive with about 50% financing scaled back in face of economic downturn
  • 2001: collapse of Enron Corporation
  • 2001: world's ninth largest electricity producer
  • 2001: stock price exceeds US$50.00 per share
  • 2002: 13,000 MW capacity
  • 2004: 22,000 MW capacity; 89 energy centers in 21 states, Canada, and the UK
  • 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.
  • 2008: On 1/31/08, Calpine emerges from bankruptcy. Previous stock has been canceled. New Calpine stock will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "CPN."

[edit] Power plants

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