Republic of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov Announces Local Oil Companies Will Deploy Capstone Microturbines in Associated Gas to Energy Projects

CHATSWORTH, Calif., Sept. 14, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean-technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, today announced Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov declared Tatarstan's oil companies and specifically Tatneft will be deploying Capstone microturbines and Capstone Organic Rankin Cycle (ORC) machines for associated gas to energy projects.

Tatarstan is one of the most economically developed regions of Russia. The republic is highly industrialized, and ranks second only to Samara Oblast in terms of industrial production per square kilometer. The region's main source of wealth is oil as Tatarstan produces 32 million tons of crude oil per year and has estimated oil reserves of more than 1 billion tons. Industrial production constitutes 45% of the Republic's gross regional domestic product.

"Tatarstan's oil companies are interested in using microturbine power plants and ORC's for operation on associated gas," stated President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov in a recent meeting with management of BPC Engineering and Capstone Turbine. The meeting was attended by the President of BPC Group Anatoly Loginov, Alexander Skorokhodov, President of BPC Engineering, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capstone, Darren Jamison and Capstone Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jim Crouse. The meeting was held at the headquarters of Tatneft which is a Russian vertically-integrated oil and gas company with headquarters in the city of Almetyevsk, in the Republic of Tatarstan. Tatneft is the sixth largest oil company in Russia and employs more than 70,000 people across Russia.

While welcoming the business leaders, Minnikhanov expressed interest in using microturbines as part of the overall strategy turning associated gas into energy as opposed to the current practice of flaring. "Tatarstan has to be a leader in this technology and promote Capstone products to other oil-producing regions of the Russian Federation," added President Minnikhanov.

Minnikhanov emphasized that the utilization of associated gas has a number of difficulties with internal combustion engines. In this connection, the solution proposed by Capstone - microturbine air bearing - is very important. In this case, according to R. Minnikhanov, microturbine power plants can be used not only for utilization of associated gas, but also as sources of energy to remote communities.

A representative of the Institute "TatNIPIneft" reported that four projects in "Tatoylgaz" are already operating utilizing Capstone microturbines. He also gave estimates of possible microturbine use in Tatarstan. Tatneft and other small oil companies in Tatarstan in the long term could use up to 20MW.

"BPC Engineering engineered, installed the first C30 on associated gas in a Tatneft oil field almost four years ago and recently received orders for three C65's and a C600 in the same field," stated Darren Jamison, Capstone's President and Chief Executive Officer. "It was great to meet with President Minnikhanov and get his commitment and support of Capstone's innovative technology," added Jamison.

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.

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This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is used in the federal securities laws, about use of our products with associated gas, reduced costs, increased reliability, compliance with government regulations, demand for our products in Russia and the success of BPC as our distributor. 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.

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Released September 14, 2011