Calpine's Colorado 300 MW Peaking Power Plant is Ready for Summer

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN) (San Jose, California) has begun commercial operation at a 300 megawatt (MW), $150 million peaking power plant located in Aurora, Colorado. Blue Spruce Energy Center is a natural gas-fired peaking plant that was scheduled to come online May 1, 2003, but came online two weeks early.

Blue Spruce is a 300 MW natural gas-fired peaking plant that consists of two General Electric (GE) Frame 7FA's combustion turbine/generator sets. Full output of the plant will be delivered to Xcel Energy of Colorado grid under the terms of a ten-year tolling agreement.

GE Power Systems (Norcross, Georgia) was the prime contractor for the project and The Industrial Company (TIC) (Steamboat Springs, Colorado) was responsible for the construction activities.

GE Power Systems has approximately 30,000 employees around the globe. GE Power Systems a world leader in power generation technology and services. They provide equipment and support for all types of power generation (hydroelectric, wind, fossil, and nuclear). GE Power Systems is a division of General Electric (NYSE: GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), which was founded in 1892 and has 300,000 employees with offices in over a hundred countries and in 2001 had revenues in excess of $125 billion.

Calpine was founded in 1984 and is one of the world's largest PEP. Calpine has 83 energy centers in 23 states in the United States, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom. The centers serve a variety of end users, including electric utilities, municipalities, industrial companies and government institutions. These plants have an electrical capacity of more than 19,400 megawatts. The company is increasing its generating capacity and, with more projects under construction, expects a capacity of more than 28,000 megawatts by the end of 2005. Calpine uses two types of fuel - natural gas and geothermal steam - to produce energy-efficient electricity in ways that dramatically decrease environmental impact. The company has developed the world's largest network of natural gas-fired energy centers. Calpine manages about one trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves to operate these plants. Calpine is the largest supplier of energy from geothermal sources in North America, with 19 facilities at The Geysers area of northern California. It uses this renewable geothermal energy to provide "green" power to consumers throughout California. It has more than 3,000 employees, and receives approximately $7.5 billion in revenue. Calpine went public in 1996, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN and is a member of the S&P 500.