Capstone Turbine Corporation Signs First Service Contract Providing Plant Operations; Total Long-Term Service Backlog Increases From $17 Million To Over $25 Million In 14 Months

CHATSWORTH, Calif., Jan. 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation ( www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, today announced that it has signed a new C1000 Factory Protection Plan (FPP) service contract in the Dominican Republic for an installation at an all-inclusive luxury resort that includes a plant operator.

The FPP contract is valued at approximately $1.0 million over the 9-year period and includes an onsite operator for the first year of the contract. This is the first Capstone FPP contract to include plant operations in addition to the scheduled and unscheduled maintenance of the microturbine. "As Capstone moves into the multiple megawatt power market it's important that Capstone offer total plant operations if required by the end use customer," stated Capstone's President and Chief Executive Officer, Darren Jamison. "It is very common in our industry that projects in remote locations or projects above 3 megawatts require some level of onsite plant operations," added Jamison.

Capstone's FPP backlog as of January 15, 2011 was approximately $25 million, up from $17 million in November 2009. "With this contract the total number of microturbine systems under Factory Protection Program is fast approaching 650 units," said Shelby Ahmann, Capstone's Senior Vice President of Customer Service. "Our goal, as stated previously, is to have as many of our new products as possible under a FPP to guarantee product performance and system reliability," added Ahmann.

"I am pleased to further expand Capstone's already unprecedented FPP offering, as it provides us a long-term recurring revenue stream and keeps us close to our customers and the performance of our product," stated Jamison. "Life cycle costs and emissions are the cornerstones of our value proposition, and with an FPP and a factory trained operator our customers can rest assured that maintenance expenses will not exceed their budget and plant up time will be at the highest level possible. Capstone is unique in its ability to guarantee with confidence the overall reliability and performances of our new megawatt scale products," added Jamison.