MIDDLETOWN — Calpine Corporation dedicated its Geothermal Visitors Center Friday to company founder Pete Cartwright during a ceremony attended by company executives, community leaders and state and local officials.
Calpine honored Cartwright for his vision, dedication and commitment to promoting The Geysers, furthering geothermal energy production and fostering environmental stewardship as a pioneer in green, renewable power production.
In 1984, Cartwright founded Calpine, an independent power company focusing on geothermal and natural gas-fired power plants. He served as the company”s first CEO until his retirement in 2005.
“We are proud to honor a lifetime of dedication to clean, reliable power generation in California and across the United States. Pete is a visionary, who has made incredibly significant contributions to the energy industry during his 50-plus-year career,” Calpine President and CEO Jack Fusco said. “It is an honor to recognize the founder of this ground-breaking company.”
Since opening in 2001, Calpine”s Geothermal Visitors Center in Middletown received more than 60,000 visitors from all 50 states and from 77 countries around the world. Visitors come to learn about Calpine, The Geysers and the vital role of geothermal energy in California”s energy portfolio. The Visitors Center also serves as a venue for community and civic involvement for Lake County.
“The dedication of the Geothermal Visitors Center is such an honor for me,” Cartwright said. “I am excited that so many people are able to come together this evening in support of this effort that we began a long time ago.”
Early in his career, Cartwright joined Princeton University”s Project Matterhorn, an Atomic Energy Commission project developing thermonuclear energy. He spent 19 years with General Electric”s Nuclear Energy Division, helping to build nuclear power plants in India, Japan, Taiwan and Mexico. Cartwright was also active in designing and building geothermal power plants at The Geysers, in Utah and in Southern California.
Cartwright recently formed Avalon EcoPower, a company dedicated to developing, owning and operating renewable power projects backed by natural gas-fired power plants. He is also active in environmental affairs and serves on the board of directors for the Sierra Club Foundation, as chairman of Symphony Silicon Valley, and as a member of the Santa Clara Valley Ethics Group.
Calpine”s operation at The Geysers comprises the largest geothermal power facilities in the world. The green power produced by The Geysers reduces carbon dioxide and has offset billions of pounds of greenhouse gases that would have been released from traditional plants, Calpine stated.
