Through wholesale power operations and its retail businesses, Calpine serves customers in 23 states, Canada and Mexico. As of March 2018, the directors of Calpine are CEO Thad Hill; Executive Vice Chairman Thad Miller; Tyler Reeder, Douglas Kimmelman, Andrew Singer and Andrew Gilbert of Energy Capital Partners; and Donald Wagner of Access Industries, Inc. The executive leadership team includes President/CEO Thad Hill, EVP/Chief Legal Officer Thad Miller, EVP/Chief Financial Officer Zamir Rauf, EVP/Power Operations Charlie Gates and EVPs of Commercial Operations Andrew Novotny and Caleb Stephenson. Its fleet of 78 power plants in operation or under construction represents nearly 26,000 megawatts of generation capacity.
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. It was essentially a Silicon Valley startup company. The name "Calpine" is derived from the company's original California location and alpine, a reference to the Zürich home base of Electrowatt. Calpine is the largest generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources in the United States.
1984: provider of management services for independent energy companies
2004: Investment bank Lehman Brothers begins shorting Calpine, with researcher Christine Daley lacking confidence in Calpine. This information spreads to clients of Lehman. By the time Calpine goes bankrupt in 2005, Lehman will profit roughly $100,000,000 from the short.
2005: November: CEO Peter Cartwright and CFO Bob Kelly leave the company.
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. Delisted from NYSE.
2008: On 1/31/08, Calpine emerges from bankruptcy. Previous stock was exchanged for warrants. New Calpine stock began trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "CPN."
2008: Executive leadership team headed by President and CEO Jack Fusco join the company.
2014: Calpine executes on a strategic priority by selling six power plants in its Southeast region.
2015: Calpine acquired award-winning retail electric provider Champion Energy, expanding customer channels in its core Texas and Northeastern U.S. markets.
2016: Calpine acquires Noble Group Ltd's North American energy business.
2018: Calpine is acquired by an affiliate of Energy Capital Partners and a consortium of other investors, including Access Industries Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, on March 8. A new board is named. Shares of Calpine's common stock stop trading prior to the March 9, 2018, opening of the New York Stock Exchange.
