Capstone Turbine CEO Speaks With President Bush as Part of Roundtable on Energy Issues.

Business Editors & Energy Writers

CHATSWORTH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2001

Dr. Ake Almgren, President & CEO of Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.microturbine.com) (Nasdaq: CPST), and 11 other business executives, today met with President George W. Bush and California Governor Gray Davis to discuss conservation, energy technology and related topics. The California energy situation and the President's recently presented National Energy Policy set the stage for the roundtable discussions.

Almgren, along with executives from Wal-Mart (www.walmart.com) (NYSE: WMT), National Semiconductor (www.national.com) (NYSE: MSM), Intel (www.intel.com) (Nasdaq: INTC), Bank of America California (www.bankofamerica.com) (NYSE: BAC), Silicon Energy (www.siliconenergy.com), Exodus Communications (www.exodus.net) (Nasdaq: EXDS), the California Farm Bureau Federation (www.cfbf.com), the California Grocers Association (www.cagrocers.com) and others, made brief presentations to the President following the President's address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council (www.lawac.org) at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan was also in attendance. The presentations were hosted by business management and communications consultant James Strock of James Strock & Company (www.strock-california.com). Others on the roundtable spoke to the President on their needs for power stability as well as their efforts to conserve power. Almgren characterized Capstone MicroTurbines as a part of an immediate solution.

In his speech to the World Affairs Council, President Bush emphasized the need and actions to secure reliable, affordable and environmentally sound energy for America's future.

"From my point of view," Almgren said, "that was a perfect fit with Capstone's microturbine technology. We have the cleanest fossil fuel combustion without using any catalyst. Clean distributed generation resources like the Capstone MicroTurbine help conserve energy resources in a number of ways. This would include maximizing energy efficiency through cogeneration; hybrid electric vehicles that, if Capstone-energized, use half the fuel of conventional vehicles; and the use of `waste' gases as a source of fuel to generate electricity.

"I was impressed with the interest the President showed and the time he spent with the roundtable. The fact that environmentally benign, safe and reliable distributed generation systems -- like the Capstone MicroTurbine -- can be installed and generating in weeks rather than years, I hope struck a chord with the President and the Governor," Almgren said.

It was noted that Capstone is a California company that today is producing up to 1.5 megawatts of microturbine power systems per week. "If required, we could, within 12 months, ramp that up to 10 megawatts per week, which is 500 megawatts per year.

"On environmental issues, I said that California has set a standard not only for the state, but for the nation and the world, and said that the present problems were not the result of too stringent environmental standards," Almgren said. "Lastly, I mentioned that we would like to see easier utility grid interconnection without end-user penalties in the form of unreasonable standby charges or similar barriers. There should be no difference between businesses reducing electricity demand by turning off power than, instead, generating the

same amount of power themselves."

The President asked Almgren about current Capstone MicroTurbine customers and specific examples of how the systems are being used. "We provided the President printed information on how wasted energy resources, such as landfill and oilfield gases that are often flared into the environment, can instead be used by microturbines as a source of fuel to generate electricity," Almgren said. "And we offered examples of Capstone MicroTurbines being used in high-efficiency combined-heat-and-power (CHP) applications, hybrid electric vehicles and power quality/reliability installations."

The President's National Energy Policy (www.whitehouse.gov/energy/National-Energy-Policy.pdf) contains several references to microturbines and other alternate energy resources. The document suggests provision of incentives to "accelerate the development of clean Combined Heat and Power technology" and to "expand existing alternative fuels tax incentives to include landfills that capture methane gas emissions for electricity generation." The policy document also suggests a tax credit for the purchase of hybrid vehicles. Along these lines:

-- The California Air Resources Board (www.arb.ca.gov) recently certified
Capstone MicroTurbines for use in commercial hybrid electric vehicles. Using a
CARB-approved cycle for testing emissions of microturbine systems, the NOx
emissions of a Capstone MicroTurbine running on compressed natural gas (CNG)
are 80% lower than the lowest-emitting CARB-certified heavy duty bus and truck
engine (see www.microturbine.com/whatsnew /pressrelease.asp?article=2). Even
using diesel, Capstone's CARB-certified NOx emissions are nearly 50% lower than
the cleanest CARB-certified heavy duty bus and truck engine using CNG (see
www.microturbine.com/whatsnew /pressrelease.asp?article=66) . In
Capstone-energized hybrid electric buses, such as those operated by the Los
Angeles Department of Transportation (www.ladottransit.com), fuel efficiency
can be more than double that of a conventional engine bus.

-- In landfill gas resource recovery, PPL Corporation (www.pplweb.com) was
named the "Energy Ally of the Year" by the Environmental Protection Agency for
their installation of 12 Capstone MicroTurbines at a Pennsylvania wastewater
treatment plant (see www.microturbine.com/whatsnew
/pressrelease.asp?article=90) .

-- Capstone CHP installations include award-winning applications in the United
Kingdom (see www.microturbine.com/whatsnew /pressrelease.asp?article=29 and
www.microturbine.com/whatsnew /pressrelease.asp?article=111 ).

About Capstone Turbine

Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.microturbine.com) (Nasdaq: CPST) -- winner of Financial Times Energy's (www.ftenergy.com) 2000 Global Energy Award for Most Innovative Commercial Technology -- is a leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems. In 1998, Capstone was the first to offer commercial power products utilizing microturbine technology, the result of more than ten years of focused research. Worldwide, more than 1,000 commercial production Capstone MicroTurbine systems serve, among others, the following applications:

-- Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs): onboard generation

-- Resource recovery: converting oilfield, landfill and sewage

waste gases into electricity

-- Micro-cogeneration: combined heat/power/chilling solutions

-- The 9s market: power quality and reliability

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is used in the federal securities laws, about Capstone's business, including statements regarding anticipated benefits of distributed generation, ability to ramp up unit production over the next 12 months, implications of the National Energy Policy to Capstone's business and other such statements. You can find many of these statements by looking for words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties that may cause Capstone's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied in such statements. These risks and uncertainties, such as staffing difficulties that may reduce the number of microturbines Capstone can produce, include those risks, uncertainties, marketplace competitors and risk factors identified, among other places, under "Business Risks" in Capstone's Annual Report (www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=cpst&script=2100) on form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000. Capstone cautions you not to place undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Capstone undertakes no obligation to release any revisions to such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Note: More information on Capstone's FT Energy Award noted above is available at: www.microturbine.com/whatsnew/pressrelease.asp?article=54

Note: For information on grid interconnection issues: www.microturbine.com/whatsnew/pressrelease.asp?article=112

Note: High-resolution photos available at www.microturbine.com/whatsnew

Note: Annual report is at: www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=cpst&script=2100