Calpine ramps up power at two new plants
SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 06, 2005 -- AFX-Asia
Calpine Corp. said Monday it had put its Fox Energy center in Wisconsin into commercial operation, the second Calpine power station to begin service in less than a week.
Calpine has already sold 150 megawatts of electricity from the Fox plant under a long-term contract to Wisconsin Public Power, a subsidiary of WPS Resources Corp. . The rest of the power will be sold in the region's wholesale power market.
The Fox Energy Center project is being financed using a $400 million, 25-year sale-leaseback deal with GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric Co. .
The project's second phase, to be completed before year-end, will boost the plant's output to just over 550 megawatts.
The announcement comes just three days after Calpine threw the switch on its new 600-megawatt Metcalf Energy Center, built within a few miles of the company's headquarters in San Jose, Calif.
The $500 million, gas-fired Metcalf plant will provide power to several buyers in Northern California's Silicon Valley, a fast-growing area that faced a severe electricity shortage during California's 2000-2001 energy crisis and still relies heavily on outside supplies to meet local demand.
Calpine is also in the process of ramping up power output at its Pastoria Energy Center in Southern California. The gas-fired facility, 30 miles south of Bakersfield, started putting 250 megawatts onto the power grid in May. Calpine plans to boost Pastoria's output to 750 megawatts this summer, the time of year when air conditioning demand drives electricity demand to its annual peak.
While bringing new plants on line, Calpine announced last month that it also is also in the process of selling up to eight generating stations in a bid to cut its debt load by about $3 billion.
The company, hurt by high natural-gas prices and the deterioration of the merchant power sector after Enron's collapse in late 2001, saw its shares plunge from an all-time high of $56.25 in the spring of 2001 to a low of $1.32 this April 28.
Calpine shares ended Monday's session with a 5-cent loss at $2.78.
This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see www.marketwatch.com.
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