Capstone Penetrates Slovenian Industrial Market With Combined Heat & Power Project

CHATSWORTH, Calif., Oct. 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, continues to penetrate new geographies around the globe with today's announcement of the sale of a Capstone C1000 microturbine to upgrade a large plastics manufacturing facility in the Republic of Slovenia.

Slovenia is a nation state on the Adriatic Sea, bordering Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 7,827 square miles and has a population of 2.05 million.

The project was secured by Laibach d.o.o., Capstone's exclusive distributor in Slovenia.

The manufacturing facility was planning to undergo an expansion and decided to evaluate their power consumption to identify inefficiencies and potential cost savings. With the help of Laibach the facility conducted a thorough analysis and chose a one-megawatt Capstone microturbine operating in a combined heat and power (CHP) application as their preferred solution.

The natural gas fired microturbine operates in a prime power application, supplying power for the manufacturing facility. The thermal energy from the microturbine exhaust is captured and utilized to pre-heat the combustion air of a boiler, boosting its efficiency. The steam produced by this boiler is used directly in the manufacturing process at the facility. This CHP system covers the entire electrical load of the facility and the steam base load for the manufacturing process. A traditional steam boiler supplements the CHP system during peak hours when more steam is required for the manufacturing process.

Before the implementation of the microturbine, the plastics manufacturer was purchasing power from the local utility and also running a steam boiler to provide heat for their process. Now, they are able to provide both electricity and steam for their facility with the microturbine, saving the facility approximately 20% in electrical and thermal costs. In times of lower electrical demand, excess electricity produced by the microturbine will be sold back to the local utility, providing a further reduction in operational expenses.

Additionally, the plastics manufacturer was keenly aware of upcoming European Union (EU) incentives, taxes, and laws regarding emissions. In 2015, the EU will impose significant penalties on emissions containing a certain level of formaldehyde. Additionally, the EU has committed to a 20% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020, imposing significant tariffs to help achieve this goal. Rather than incurring penalties in the future or scrambling to add on expensive and bulky exhaust after treatment systems, the manufacturing facility chose clean-and-green microturbines, which already exceed these pending stringent emission requirements.

"Manufacturing facilities around the world are seeking ways to improve the efficiency of their process to gain a competitive advantage while simultaneously meeting increasingly stringent emissions requirements," said Jim Crouse, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Capstone Turbine. "Capstone microturbines provide the ideal solution, not only improving the manufacturing process and empowering facility owners to take charge of their power generation, but doing so in a forward looking and environmentally friendly way," added Crouse.

About Capstone Turbine Corporation

Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST) is the world's leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems and was the first to market commercially viable microturbine energy products. Capstone Turbine has shipped approximately 8,000 Capstone Microturbine systems to customers worldwide. These award-winning systems have logged millions of documented runtime operating hours. Capstone Turbine is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Combined Heat and Power Partnership, which is committed to improving the efficiency of the nation's energy infrastructure and reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. A UL-Certified ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified company, Capstone is headquartered in the Los Angeles area with sales and/or service centers in the New York Metro Area, United Kingdom, Mexico City, Shanghai and Singapore.

The Capstone Turbine Corporation logo is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6212

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is used in the federal securities laws, about the advantages of our CHP applications and compliance with emissions requirements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "objective," "intend," "targeted," "plan" and similar phrases. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties described in Capstone's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that may cause Capstone's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied in such statements. Capstone cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Capstone undertakes no obligation, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

"Capstone" and "Capstone MicroTurbine" are registered trademarks of Capstone Turbine Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Capstone Turbine Corporation
         Investor and investment media inquiries:
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         ir@capstoneturbine.com

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Source: Capstone Turbine Corporation