Vision Founded
Calpine has grown from 8 employees in 1984 to more than 2,400 today. Starting with 1 small office in San Jose, California we’ve grown to 6 offices and 77 energy facilities across the United States and one in Canada.
1st MW – The Geysers
Calpine acquired its first MW of generation capacity, located at The Geysers in Northern California. Today, we own and operate 725 MW of geothermal power at The Geysers which is part of nearly 28,000 MW of power projects which also offer natural gas-fired, battery storage, solar and emerging carbon capture technology. Along the way, we have acquired unmatched technical expertise when it comes to operating and maintaining these various types of facilities.
New Era Begins
Calpine’s journey has not always been easy or smooth. Calpine endured significant financial and operational challenges during its early eras. Our successful struggles through these “tough times” made us stronger and more resilient. We emerged in 2008 as a new company with strong leadership and a goal of becoming America’s premier energy company, a goal we’ve proudly achieved.
Conectiv Acquisition
With the Conectiv acquisition, Calpine acquired 19 power facilities in 5 states which allowed us to reposition our fleet by entering new markets. We enhanced our operational capabilities, added great new talent and furthered our environmental commitments by converting 2 coal-fired plants into gas-fired facilities.
The Geysers celebrated its 50th year of geothermal generation. Today, we continue our proud geothermal legacy by investing in new equipment and technologies to further develop this amazing geothermal resource. With grants from the Department of Energy, we have been able to innovate and test new drilling techniques to improve geothermal production.
100 Billion kWh
We hit this major milestone in 2012, and today we have generated more than 200 billion kWh.
Welcome Retail
We added a retail component to the business through a series of strategic acquisitions, including Champion Energy, Noble Americas Energy Solutions and North American Power. These additions allowed us to develop an integrated platform with customers in key markets – and an exemplary ability to meet their needs. We operate our retail business today as Calpine Energy Solutions and Champion Energy.
Going Private
Calpine successfully completed a transaction that allowed us to “go private,” meaning that we are now owned by a select group of investors.
Leading the Energy Transition
We have made significant progress in our efforts to define an appropriate energy transition strategy for Calpine. While our gas fleet will provide much-needed reliability for decades, we also wanted to leverage our skillsets, people, plants and sites to advance the goal of decarbonizing the economy and our business. These efforts include our development of one of the world’s largest battery storage projects and our ongoing efforts to pursue full-scale carbon capture and sequestration technology at locations in Texas and California, the growth at The Geysers, and our Sensible Sustainability approach to working with our large commercial and industrial customers on their decarbonization goals.