Calpine launches new era, may pursue wind farms

OREANDA-NEWS. Two former wind generation executives have signed on at Houston-based Calpine as the company that operates the largest fleet of natural gas-fired power plants in the US looks to a future with ever-tighter limits on carbon dioxide emissions.

Calpine has hired two former executives from EDP Renewables to explore wind generation opportunities.

William Whitlock, a former EDP regional executive vice president, and Caton Fenz, a former EDP director of development, joined Calpine earlier this year as vice presidents of development.

The pair are expected to look for wind development opportunities across Calpine's markets, a new strategy for the gas-only generator.

Calpine chief executive Thad Hill has been a vocal opponent of the production tax credit for wind generators, saying the subsidy is no longer needed to support the US wind industry and distorts prices in competitive wholesale markets, such as Texas, where Calpine operates.

That position is unlikely to change, but Calpine recognizes that regulatory pressure to reduce carbon emissions from power generation is intensifying.

"Calpine supports programs at the federal, regional and state levels that include appropriate reductions in CO2 emissions and provide flexible, market-based solutions that will reward the transition from more carbon-intensive generation to efficient, low carbon-intensive generation and renewable power," the company said.

In addition to 88 power plants operating or under construction with total capacity of nearly 27GW, Calpine also operates the world's largest portfolio of renewable geothermal generation in California.

The federal production tax credit expired at the end of 2014, following a retroactive one-year extension approved by Congress in December. President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2016 budget proposes making the tax credit for wind and other renewables permanent and refundable, but the budget faces strong opposition in the Republican-controlled Congress.