CPN Calpine Corp.

Calpine Acquires Remaining 50% Interest in Aries Power Plant Facility Continues to Provide Contracted Electricity to Missouri Public Service SAN JOSE, Calif., March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Calpine Corporation announced today that it has completed a transaction to acquire the remaining 50-percent interest in the Aries Power Plant from Aquila, Inc. The Aries facility is a natural gas-fired power plant located in Pleasant Hill, MO, just south of Kansas City. It uses modern, clean and fuel-efficient technology to generate up to 585 megawatts of electricity for wholesale customers. With this transaction, Calpine received from Aquila a $5 million cash payment and the assignment of Aquila's equity in the Aries project. Aquila has also agreed toassign to Calpine certain transmission rights to the 500-megawatt east ERCOT/SPP DC tie beginning July 1, 2004. Calpine will use these transmission rights to optimize its generation in both the ERCOT and SPP markets. Concurrent with this transaction, the project's lenders converted the existing non-recourse construction loan to a two-tranche term financing with a weighted average life of approximately 16 years and a weighted average interest rate of 9.75%. Steve Dowdy, Calpine's director of commercial operations, said, "This was an excellent opportunity for Calpine. By acquiring the remaining interest in the Aries facility under such attractive terms, we will be able to further enhance the value of our ownership in this plant. It has also allowed us to convert the existing non-recourse, construction financing to a new, long-term project loan. Given its location on the transmission grid, Aries is uniquely situated to continue to meet the power needs of the Kansas City load center and surrounding areas. We look forward to continuing to serve Missouri Public Service and other customers in the years to come." The Aries plant has an existing power purchase agreement with Missouri Public Service through May 2005 for up to 500 megawatts of capacity and energy. Calpine is actively pursuing several term contract opportunities around Aries, including a new term power supply contract with Missouri Public Service. As part of the transaction, the project's tolling agreement with Aquila has been terminated. Calpine, the largest independent power producer in North America, has been responsible for the operation and maintenance of the facility since its start-up and will now assume full responsibility for commercial operations through its affiliates. This will enable the Aries plant to be fully optimized and efficiently operated under the direction of a sole owner. Calpine Corporation, celebrating its 20th year in power in 2004, is a leading North American power company dedicated to providing electric power to wholesale and industrial customers from clean, efficient, natural gas-fired and geothermal power facilities. The company generates power at plants it owns or leases in 21 states in the United States, three provinces in Canada and in theUnited Kingdom, and is building a power plant in Mexico. Calpine is also the world's largest producer of renewable geothermal energy, and owns or controls approximately one trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves in the United States and Canada. The company is listed on the S&P 500, and was named FORTUNE's 2004 America's Most Admired Energy Company. Calpine was founded in 1984 and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN. For more information, visit http://www.calpine.com/. This news release discusses certain matters that may be considered "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Calpine Corporation ("the Company") and its management. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results such as, but not limited to, (i) the timing and extent of deregulation of energy markets and the rules and regulations adopted on a transitional basis with respect thereto; (ii) the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices for energy, particularly natural gas and electricity; (iii) unscheduled outages of operating plants; (iv) a competitor's development of lower cost generating gas-fired power plants; (v) risks associated with marketing and selling power from power plants in the newly-competitive energy market; and (vi) other risks identified from time-to-time in our reports and registration statements filed with the SEC, including the risk factors identified in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, which can be found on the Company's website at http://www.calpine.com/. All information set forth in this news release is as of today's date, and the Companyundertakes no duty to update this information. DATASOURCE: Calpine Corporation CONTACT: media, Meg Laidlaw, +1-713-830-8655, or investors, Karen Bunton, +1-408-995-5115, ext. 1121, both for Calpine Corporation Web site: http://www.calpine.com/

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