Australian Distributor Optimal Commissions Capstone C1000S for Oil & Gas Producer Santos Fuel, Cutting Costs and Carbon Footprint in Half at Remote Facility

VAN NUYS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 14, 2020 / Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (NASDAQ:CPST), the world's leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, announced today that Optimal Group Australia, Capstone's exclusive Australian distributor, recently commissioned an innovative energy project for Santos Limited, one of Australia's largest independent oil and gas producers in the Asia- Pacific region, supplying energy needs across Australia and Asia.

The project required Optimal to deliver a stand-alone system to power one of the Santos remote oil production facilities as they wanted to replace their aging and inefficient reciprocating engine-based power system at their Tarbat Oil Production Facility in Southwest Queensland. In addition, Santos also wanted to achieve significant emissions reductions as part of the energy system upgrade. Inclusive in this requirement was the need to incorporate solar photovoltaic (PV) into the remote system.

Santos Limited Tarbat Oil Production Facility in Southwest Queensland, Australia

The new energy system consists of a C1000S one-megawatt Capstone microturbine running on on-site natural gas from the facility. The system also includes a 250-kilowatt (kW) solar array and Optimal's proprietary Grid Stability Module (GSM) to stabilize the electrical load to address the project complexity of the new energy system which operates under significant load fluctuations resulting from the cyclical electrical loads that fluctuate as much as 250 kW every 8 seconds.

The system has cut the fuel requirements by 50% and as such is expected to reduce annual fuel costs for the facility by $1 million a year, delivering a very attractive financial payback for the project. As the system reduces Santos' natural gas use by half, it also reduces their carbon emissions by half for the site, while also dramatically decreasing the annual system maintenance required.

In developing this solution, Optimal incorporated its GSM into the system architecture. The GSM is a sophisticated rapid load response module incorporating proprietary Ultra-Capacitors and conventional lead-acid battery storage. The capacitors rapidly charge and discharge, thereby "absorbing" the significant load fluctuation without losing the available energy.

"Capstone microturbines are well suited to address variable loads, but in this case, the frequency and the magnitude of the fluctuation required further mitigation. Incorporating the Optimal GSM smoothed the fluctuations to a level more suited to the long-term operation of the turbines," stated Darren Jamison, President and CEO of Capstone Turbine Corporation. "As a result, Optimal was able to offer not only a smaller and more efficient generation solution to Santos, but they were also able to incorporate solar PV to further reduce the customer's cost of electricity and lower the carbon footprint," added Mr. Jamison.

"We congratulate Optimal for helping Santos develop such an innovative low-cost clean energy solution while simultaneously providing a cleaner and more reliable source of energy at this remote facility," stated Jen Derstine, Capstone's Vice President of Marketing and Distribution.

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

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