Capstone Continues Penetration of Russian Oil Fields With New Associated Gas Projects

CHATSWORTH, Calif., Feb. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean-technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, today announced it received additional orders from BPC Engineering for associated gas to energy projects in the Nikolskoye oilfield.

Capstone's Russian distributor BPC Engineering is supplying the equipment for the second stage of the distributed microturbine power station at the Nikolskoye oilfield owned by Bogorodskneft, a subsidiary of Jukola-neft.

The power station is intended for associated gas utilization and power supply for custody transfer facility at the Nikolskoye oilfield located in the Saratov Region. This project will allow Bogorodskneft to avoid environmental penalties for excessive gas flaring that came into force in January 2012. Capstone microturbines made unnecessary the installation of an additional gas treatment facility for gas engine generator sets.

"The Capstone microturbines utilizing this associated gas provide very low cost of power generation - about 0.9 – 1.2 rubles per kW and a short payback period of three to five years," said Alexander Skorokhodov, BPC Engineering CEO.

With a high degree of operational compatibility and modular design, the microturbines allowed the incremental increase of power at the site in accordance with new drilling and increased oil production. The first stage of the power station included two Capstone C65 microturbines and was installed in September 2011. Thermal energy of these units is used for oil heating.  

Currently the second stage consists of a C600 microturbine unit and a C65 with commercial operation planned in the third quarter of 2012. Within the framework of the project, BPC Engineering will perform installation supervision, pre-commissioning and customers staff training.

After the completion of the project, the power station will be able to utilize more than 2.3 million cubic meters of associated gas from the Nikolskoye oilfield. The total power output of the new station will be approximately 800kW and the thermal output of approximately 240kW. 

"BPC Engineering and Capstone have been working together on the successful deployment of microturbine technology to increase the level of associated gas utilization in Russia's oil fields in compliance with the Russian government's 2009 resolution," said Darren Jamison, Capstone President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Associated gas utilization for power will allow Russian Oil and Gas customers to avoid costly emissions penalties and to significantly reduce power costs at the oil field level. The electricity generated by the microturbines covers nearly all the energy needs of the oil field and allows the site to use the electric grid as a backup power source for peak loads," 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 6,000 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 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.

CONTACT: Capstone Turbine Corporation
         Investor and investment media inquiries:
         818-407-3628
         ir@capstoneturbine.com

Released February 6, 2012