Posted on 08/02/2005 1:30:34 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Calpine Corp. (CPN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it will start construction with the energy unit of General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) this month on a gas turbine combined-cycle power plant in Riverside County, California, to help boost power supplies in the energy-deficient region. The 800-megawatt, natural gas-fired power plant got its license from the California Energy Commission in June, and GE later acquired the site and related development rights for the project from Calpine, a company statement said.
companies expect to bring the Inland Empire Energy Center on-line by the summer of 2008 -- in time to help offset state-forecasted energy shortfalls in Southern California. Calpine said it will buy the plant and become sole owner and operator after an extended period of GE ownership. he companies have agreed that GE will finance, own and operate the energy center, while Calpine will manage plant construction, market its output and manage its fuel needs under a long-term marketing deal with GE. After Calpine takes over ownership, GE will continue to provide critical maintenance services under a long-term agreement, the statement said.
The plant will use the industry's most fuel-efficient, gas turbine combined-cycle technology -- the "H System" -- and will be the first capable of achieving 60 percent thermal efficiency, it added. The Inland Empire Energy Center is expected to generate enough electricity to supply nearly 600,000 households and reduce future carbon dioxide emissions by more than 146,000 tons per year, compared with a typical gas turbine combined-cycle plant. On the New York Stock Exchange, shares of San Jose-based Calpine were up 4.3 percent at $3.68 and GE rose 0.6 percent to $34.47.
anyway, I remember when it was around 37. there was another one besides mirant...can't recall the name...
And, why did they lose money? Did they sell too soon?
Was it Dynegy (DYN)? Or, perhaps it was Reliant? They've had trouble as well. There's Sempra, NRG, AES, etc. Several have been trying to survive.
Was it Dynegy (DYN)? Or, perhaps it was Reliant? They've had trouble as well. There's Sempra, NRG, AES, etc. Several have been trying to survive.
Can you give us a clue what those charts mean?
It should be nuclear. All new power plants should be nuclear. It could still be GE, but Calpine might be out of luck.
I'm just a stupid engineer. Every chart I ever reference is labeled on both axes.
I missed your previous tips, but those charts have me interested in conducting some DD tonight.
You summed it nicely. It makes so much better sense to upgrade low rank fuels into high rank fuels: coal to kilowatts or coal to ethanol or soybean diesel. It is makes no sense to consume high rank fuels like nat gas and turn it into another high rank fuel like electrical power. I chase the resid bbl and can do $5.50 with my bottoms product in a $7-$8 world. Power generation should belong to the coal guys where large quantities of ash, scrubbing exhaust, etc can be managed at a power plant and leave nat gas for pilot lights at home.
Input Calpine or Mirant into the search box. A lot of stories will come up. I tried. Bye.
To some extent natural gas and oil move sympathetically with each other. Energy is energy.
But they are not direct substitutes and there is considerable independence in their pricing. You can't burn natural gas in a typical car nor can you burn oil in a typical natural gas furnace. Natural gas is typically most expensive in the winter during heating season. Oil/gasoline is typically highest in the late spring. A big difference between oil and natural gas is that for natural gas we are, for the short term, entirely reliant on our domestic (plus Canada and Mexico) supply which is in sharp decline. We have a very limited ability to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
As you look back through recent history you will see several episodes where natural gas prices both spiked and crashed and it had nothing to do with oil prices. Natural gas was hitting over $20 mmbtu at the California border during the California rolling blackouts while oil prices were quite reasonable.
DYN, thx.
Are you familiar w/the industry? I was a stock trader, so I watched them from afar. If there's any value in CPN it would be good to know.
Start doing research. I've spent hours and hours. Each has a website. Yahoo Finance has good information. Hoover's has good information. Forbes, Motley Foot, etc. have good information. Do your due diligence (DD). Electric power plants pretty well have to remain stateside, they can't be exported like everything else. Something to think about.
that is one of those simple but astute observations that can really open one's eyes.
CPN was big on gas burners, weren't they. That and crude are dying as far as electrical generation. Nukes, maybe coal burners are obvious choices. and the support industries, of course..ge, westinghouse, etc.
Share price in dollars on the upper axis, trading volume on the lower. Pretty sure those are Yahoo! Finance charts, didn't look at the URLs.
Yes they are. Stock dropped today after a .66 per share reported loss for 2nd quarter. It was supposed to be .29. They're still struggling. However, I think they dumped some stuff on the balance sheet in the 2nd quarter to avoid having to put it on the balance sheet later. Times are tough.
Grampa dave's suggestion the GE teamed with Calpine is probably right on the money. IMO Calpine is still on somewhat shaky financial ground.
" Nuclear would be even better, but the liberals are not going to allow that, are they?"
I read recently about a town in Alaska that was thinking of buying a small, safe, nuke plant from Toshiba (I think). The thing comes as a kind of drop in package that you change every few years. Sounds good to me but the watermelons would rather we sit in the dark.
Yes! Betting on Gray Davis screwed them right into the ground!!! (Calpine, that is...)
Betting on Davis and being in bed with him and the Enviral Ganggreen Watermelons of California made Calpine an non investment for me.
Remember when I tried to warn people in 2002 about investing in them?
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