Calpine Corporation is a power company founded in 1984. Calpine has 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.

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 C. 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