Calpine and Aquila Announce Completion of $270 Million Financing for Aries Power Project.

Business Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2000

Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN) and Aquila Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UtiliCorp United (NYSE:UCU) announced today the completion of a $270 million construction and leverage lease financing of the Aries Power Project, a 600-megawatt gas-fired power plant under construction in Pleasant Hill, Mo.

Calpine and Aquila, each 50 percent owners of Aries, are developing the facility. Union Bank of California, N.A. ("UBOC") and its affiliate Bankers Commercial Corporation ("BCC") arranged and underwrote the construction and leveraged lease financing. Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank AG ("DG Bank") and Credit Lyonnais co-underwrote the debt financing. They will act as Administrative Agent and Documentation Agent, respectively.

Rohn Crabtree, Calpine's vice president finance, stated, "We are very excited by the creative way the financing parties, both the lessor and the lenders, approached this financing. This is the first project financing in the U.S. in which the sponsors have entered into tolling contracts to directly purchase the plant capacity thereby increasing our marketing flexibility while at the same time mitigating the market risk for the Aries financing parties."

The majority of the plant's capacity and electrical output has already been sold under a four-year contract (June 2001 - May 2005) to Missouri Public Service, a division of UtiliCorp. Under the terms of the tolling contracts, Calpine and Aquila will purchase the balance of the plant's capacity and output, remarketing it into the attractive SPP and SERC regional power markets. The marketing and fuel supply responsibilities will be handled by Aquila.

"The financing of the Aries plant represents yet another example of innovative ways Aquila is bringing energy to a New Economy marketplace that continues to grow and expand," says Keith Stamm, chief executive officer of Aquila. "It is our strategic goal to not only add to our portfolio of power sources under our control, but we continue to use our immense knowledge of the energy and financial markets to do it in creative ways."

Construction started on the Aries facility in October 1999. Commercial operations of the first 330 megawatts will begin in June 2001, with full production starting in January 2002. Black & Veatch of Kansas City, Mo., is building the Aries facility on a 67-acre site located approximately 18 miles southeast of Kansas City in Cass County, Mo. Calpine is providing construction management services, and will operate and maintain the facility. Calpine acquired a 50 percent interest in the Aries project in January 2000.

The Aries Power Project is both Calpine's and Aquila's first facility to be developed in the Southwest Power Pool ("SPP"). The SPP region covers the southern Great Plains, including Kansas, Oklahoma, western Missouri and small portions of Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Coal is the largest fuel source for electric generation in SPP, followed by gas and nuclear energy.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Calpine Corporation is dedicated to providing customers with reliable and competitively priced electricity. Calpine is focused on clean, efficient combined-cycle, natural gas-fired generation and is the nation's largest producer of renewable geothermal energy. Calpine has launched the largest power development program in the U.S. To date, the company has approximately 26,800 megawatts of base load capacity and 5,100 megawatts of peaking capacity in operation, under construction and in announced development in 27 states and Alberta, Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPN. For more information about Calpine, visit its website at www.calpine.com.

Based in Kansas City, Aquila is one of the largest wholesalers of electricity and natural gas in North America and an innovative provider of risk management services. Aquila also provides wholesale energy services in the U.K. and has a presence in Scandinavia, Germany and Spain. Aquila is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UtiliCorp United, an international energy company with about 4.5 million customers across the U.S. and in Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia. At June 30, 2000, UtiliCorp had $8.8 billion in assets and 12-month sales of $21.4 billion. Further information is at www.utilicorp.com.

This news release discusses certain matters that may be considered "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Calpine Corporation ("the Company") and its management. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results such as, but not limited to, (i) changes in government regulations and anticipated deregulation of the electric energy industry; (ii) commercial operations of new plants that may be delayed or prevented because of various development and construction risks, such as a failure to obtain financing and the necessary permits to operate or the failure of third-party contractors to perform their contractual obligations, (iii) cost estimates are preliminary and actual cost may be higher than estimated, (iv) the assurance that the Company will develop additional plants, (v) a competitor's development of a lower-cost generating gas-fired power plant or (vi) the risks associated with marketing and selling power from power plants in the newly competitive energy market. Prospective investors are also referred to the other risks identified from time to time in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.