Capstone Turbine Corporation Secures Follow-on Order for Six C65s From Large Natural Gas Producer With Current Capstone Fleet Exceeding One Million Operating Hours

CHATSWORTH, Calif., March 17, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, today announced it sold six additional C65s to a prominent natural-gas producer whose current fleet of 49 Capstone microturbines has exceeded 1 million run time hours.

Pumps & Service, the Capstone Turbine distributor responsible for selling and securing the robust fleet of natural gas microturbines since 1999, indicated that the six additional C65 microturbines will expand the producer's minigrid system in New Mexico's San Juan Basin. The six new C65 microturbines, which will be installed in June, will be part of a microturbine generation station that provides power to pumping and water transfer units at remote sites via a complex underground electrical system.

"This is Pumps & Service's longest running project using Capstone microturbines," said Jim Crouse, Capstone's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "With extremely remote wellsites in mountainous terrain that averages 6,500 feet in elevation, the producer needs an exceptionally reliable power source. Many of the microturbines in this company's fleet have run for 12 years. They are incredibly durable."

In Northern New Mexico's rugged mountains, wellsites often are located five miles or more from a central facility. The central facility is key to the production process because it collects water pumped from the ground at each remote site. Traditionally, the water has been hauled through the rugged terrain by truck to the central facility, making the production process extremely expensive.

Capstone microturbines allow the producer to pump water from tanks at each wellsite to a central water disposal facility, where the water is then returned to the ground, thus eliminating the need for water hauling. In addition to significantly lowering costs, the removal of water trucks from the mountain roads eliminates harmful emissions and excessive dust.

"All the power for the producer's minigrid comes from the Capstone microturbines," said Sam Henry, Pumps & Service President. "We work hard to keep the San Juan Basin pristine by offering highly efficient, extremely reliable and low-emission Capstone microturbines that seldom require maintenance. Our customer is replacing high emission, high maintenance pump-jack engines that were installed at wellsites with Capstone microturbines, which ensures a cleaner San Juan Basin."

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 over 5,000 Capstone MicroTurbine(R) 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, Mexico City, Nottingham, 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 lower operational cost, additional reliability and durability, and the environmental advantages of our products. 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 Turbine Corporation" and "Capstone MicroTurbine" are registered trademarks of Capstone Turbine Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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Released March 17, 2011