Microturbines Provide Resiliency and Refuge after Ontario Lightning Strike Forced 60 Households to Evacuate into the Tillsonburg Community Centre

VAN NUYS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2019 / Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (NASDAQ:CPST), the world’s leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, announced today that a lightning strike and associated gas leak forced the evacuation of approximately 60 households in a residential community of Tillsonburg, Ontario on Sunday, August 18^th. Many of the residents were relocated into the Tillsonburg Community Centre which is powered by a Capstone microturbine combined heat and power (“CHP”) system installed by Vergent Power Solutions, Inc. (www.vergentpower.com), Capstone’s exclusive distributor for the Upper Midwest, New England and Eastern Canada.

According to the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, an Enbridge Gas spokesperson said that 125 homes were without gas while the repairs were completed. According to Enbridge, lightning struck a tree, traveling down through a root and damaged the natural gas pipeline. Emergency crews responded around 3 a.m. to a report of a lightning strike. Ontario Provincial Police (“OPP”) said the lightning ruptured the gas line, releasing a large amount of natural gas into several homes and underground sewer lines. Those forced to leave their homes were moved to the Tillsonburg Community Centre, the OPP confirmed.

Fortunately for the local residents, the Tillsonburg Community Centre (“TCC”), is powered by a Capstone microturbine CHP system that kept the facility’s electricity and hot water functioning despite the widespread power outage in the local area. The TCC was able to serve as a place of refuge for the small town.

According to OPP representatives, while there was some hesitation for people to leave their homes so early in the morning, the memory of a recent natural gas explosion in London’s Old East Village neighborhood was still fresh, so a lot of people moved quickly. The gas was shut off to a large area because of the potential for gas explosions. Thankfully, the gas leak was quickly remedied, and the community members were able to return home from the TCC.

“We are very proud that a Capstone CHP facility was the so-called port in the storm for so many residents of Tillsonburg,” stated Darren Jamison, Capstone’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Utility power outages are becoming more commonplace as evidenced by recent wide-scale blackouts in New York and London and are becoming very commonplace in Capstone’s home state of California as we lead the country in power outages,” added Mr. Jamison.

According to the Eaton Blackout Tracker in 2017, 438 separate outage events caused by weather, falling trees, faulty equipment, human error, and others causes resulted in more than 25,000 minutes or 17 days of outages across California. The number of outages has been steadily increasing for the past decade and look to only continue as Pacific Gas & Electric instituted its first Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program by cutting power to approximately 22,700 customers in two events across five California counties, as wind speeds were forecast to accelerate.

“The shutoffs are designed as a proactive measure in times when there is a high risk of sparking a wildfire but can be very disruptive to utility customers and local business. The state regulators approved utility mitigation plans, including PSPS guidelines, several months ago,” added Mr. Jamison.

California is far from an outlier when it comes to power disruptions. Nationwide, there were more than 3,500 power outages in 2017, triggered by a surge in tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods, and other weather events. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the duration of utility outages doubled between 2016 and 2017, again as a result of an increase in extreme weather events. The total cost to the American economy for the 2017 blackouts was estimated $150 billion.

“Today customers are not only looking to save money on energy costs and reduce carbon emissions with Capstone’s microturbine products, but resiliency solutions like the one at the Tillsonburg Community Centre are increasingly gaining momentum,” said Jim Crouse, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The reliability of Capstone clean energy products, in some of the most remote and harsh environments in the world, makes Capstone a preferred solution for providing resiliency,” concluded Mr. Crouse.

About Capstone Turbine Corporation

Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (NASDAQ:CPST) is the world’s leading producer of highly efficient, low-emission, resilient microturbine energy systems. Capstone microturbines serve multiple vertical markets worldwide, including natural resources, energy efficiency, renewable energy, critical power supply, transportation and microgrids. Capstone offers a comprehensive product lineup, providing scalable systems focusing on 30 kWs to 10 MWs that operate on a variety of gaseous or liquid fuels and are the ideal solution for today's distributed power generation needs. To date, Capstone has shipped over 9,000 units to 73 countries and has saved customers an estimated $253 million in annual energy costs and 350,000 tons of carbon.

For more information about the company, please visit www.capstoneturbine.com. Follow Capstone Turbine on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” as that term is used in the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “expects,” “believes,” “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

Integra Investor Relations
Shawn M. Severson
415-226-7747
cpst@integra-ir.com

SOURCE: Capstone Turbine Corporation

Released August 29, 2019