SAN JOSE, Calif., July 9, 2001 — San Jose, Calif.-based Calpine Corporation announced today that its 555-megawatt Los Medanos Energy Center in Pittsburg, Calif. is providing needed electricity to California's strained power grid.

Los Medanos is the second major combined-cycle facility to be licensed and built in California in over a decade. Fueled by natural gas, the facility is designed to add up to 555-megawatts of clean, reliable electricity to California on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week availability. As a cogeneration facility, the project also delivers electricity and steam to USS POSCO for use in industrial processing.

Governor Gray Davis and Calpine CEO Peter Cartwright will hold a press conference Monday afternoon to commission the Los Medanos Energy Center and to recognize the support of the local community, the construction and trades people, and numerous organizations that helped develop the facility.

Cartwright said, "We are committed to creating innovative energy solutions for California's growing power market. Los Medanos exemplifies excellence in power generation-ratepayers and the environment benefit as Calpine brings to California new energy resources like Los Medanos."

Los Medanos is the second of eleven announced modern, fuel-efficient energy centers Calpine is building in the State as part of a $6 billion energy initiative. Three additional facilities are under construction, including an 880-megawatt facility in Pittsburg at Dow Chemical's facility. By year-end 2005, Calpine expects to be generating 12,000 megawatts of clean, affordable electricity to help repower California.

Calpine broke ground on the Los Medanos Energy Center in September 1999. More than 600 construction and trade personnel worked on the project over a 20-month period. During the past several months, the project scheduled two ten-hour shifts, seven days a week to get the plant operating as soon as possible in light of the energy crisis. And over the past several weeks, technical teams worked round the clock to complete the facility. The total cost of construction is estimated to be approximately $350 million.

The Los Medanos Energy Center is located in Pittsburg, Calif., in Contra Costa County adjacent to the USS POSCO plant and is operated by a 22-member staff of highly trained personnel.

As with all of Calpine's modern base load facilities, Los Medanos uses combined-cycle design with natural gas-fired turbines in combination with a steam turbine to achieve maximum fuel efficiency. Advanced emissions control technology enables Calpine to reduce certain emissions by more than 90 percent.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Calpine Corporation is dedicated to providing customers with reliable and competitively priced electricity. Calpine is focused on clean, efficient, natural gas-fired generation and is the world's largest producer of renewable geothermal energy. Calpine has launched the largest power development program in North America. To date, the company has approximately 34,000 megawatts of base load capacity and 7,200 megawatts of peaking capacity in operation, under construction, pending acquisitions and in announced development in 29 states, the United Kingdom and Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN. For more information about Calpine, visit its Website at www.calpine.com.