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Property, Plant and Equipment, Net | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2011
Property, Plant and Equipment, Net [Abstract] |
Property, Plant and Equipment, Net | Property, Plant and Equipment, Net As of December 31, 2011 and 2010, the components of property, plant and equipment, are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation as follows (in millions):
| 2011 |  | 2010
Buildings, machinery and equipment | $ | 15,074 |  |  | $ | 14,669 |
Geothermal properties | 1,163 |  |  | 1,102 |
Other | 156 |  |  | 182 |
| 16,393 |  |  | 15,953 |
Less: Accumulated depreciation | 4,158 |  |  | 3,690 |
| 12,235 |  |  | 12,263 |
Land | 91 |  |  | 93 |
Construction in progress | 693 |  |  | 622 |
Property, plant and equipment, net | $ | 13,019 |  |  | $ | 12,978 |
Total depreciation expense, including amortization of leased assets, recorded in income from operations and discontinued operations for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, was $560 million, $568 million and $469 million, respectively. We have various debt instruments that are collateralized by certain of our property, plant and equipment. See Note 6 for a detailed discussion of such instruments. Change in Depreciation Methods, Useful Lives and Salvage Values During 2009, we reviewed our accounting policies related to depreciation including our estimates of useful lives and salvage values. As further described below, effective October 1, 2009, we made two changes to our methods of depreciation including (i) changing from composite depreciation to component depreciation for our rotable parts utilized in our natural gas-fired power plants and (ii) changing from the units of production method to the straight line method for our Geysers Assets. In addition, we completed a life study for each of our natural gas-fired power plants and our Geysers Assets, and changed our estimate of their remaining useful lives. Component Depreciation for Rotable Parts at our Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants — Effective October 1, 2009, we componentized our rotable parts for our natural gas-fired power plant assets for purposes of calculating depreciation. Prior to October 1, 2009, we used the composite depreciation method for all of our natural gas-fired power plant assets. Under this method, all assets comprising each power plant were combined into one group and depreciated under a composite depreciation rate. The change in the method of depreciation for rotable parts was considered a change in accounting estimate inseparable from a change in accounting principle, and resulted in changes to our depreciation expense prospectively. The change to component depreciation for our rotable parts utilized in our natural gas-fired power plants also resulted in changes to the useful lives of our rotable parts which are now generally estimated to range from 3 to 18 years. Furthermore, we reduced our estimate of salvage value for our rotable parts to 0.15% of original cost to reflect our expectation with these separable parts. Prior to this change, our composite useful lives for our natural gas-fired power plant assets, including our rotable parts, were 35 years and 40 years for our combined-cycle and our simple-cycle power plant assets, respectively. We also revised the estimated useful lives of our remaining composite pools to 37 years and 47 years for our combined-cycle and simple-cycle power plant assets, respectively, based in part on the results of our separate useful life study. Our change in useful lives is considered a change in accounting estimate and resulted in changes to our depreciation expense prospectively. Straight Line Method for our Geysers Assets — Effective October 1, 2009, we began calculating our depreciation for our Geysers Assets under the straight line method. Prior to October 1, 2009, our Geysers Assets used the units of production method for depreciation. Our units of production depreciation rate was calculated using a depreciable base of the net book value of the Geysers Assets plus the expected future capital expenditures over the economic life of the geothermal reserves. The rate of depreciation per MWh was determined by dividing the depreciable base by total expected future generation. The change in depreciation methods was made because steam flow decline rates have become very small over the past several years as a result of our water injection program where, on average, we reinject approximately 18 million gallons of reclaimed wastewater a day back into the reservoir to replenish natural steam withdrawn for the production of power. The expectation is that the steam reservoir at our Geysers Assets will be able to supply economic quantities of steam for the foreseeable future and expected future generation is now only limited by the physical useful life of the Geysers Assets. As a result of our change from the units of production method to the straight line method for our Geysers Assets, and based in part on the results of our separate useful life study, we revised our estimates of the remaining composite useful lives of our Geysers Assets effective October 1, 2009 to 59 years and 13 years for our Geysers steam extraction and gathering assets and our Geysers power plant assets, respectively. Our change in the method of depreciation for our Geysers Assets is considered a change in accounting estimate inseparable from a change in accounting principle, and resulted in changes to depreciation expense prospectively. The changes described above resulted in an increase in our historical depreciation expense of approximately $28 million related to our natural gas-fired power plants and a decrease in historical depreciation expense of approximately $3 million for our Geysers Assets for a net decrease to our net income attributable to Calpine of approximately $25 million or approximately $(0.05) to our basic and diluted earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2009. Buildings, Machinery and Equipment This component primarily includes power plants and related equipment. Included in buildings, machinery and equipment are assets under capital leases. See Note 6 for further information regarding these assets under capital leases. Other This component primarily includes software and emission reduction credits that are power plant specific and not available to be sold. Capitalized Interest The total amount of interest capitalized was $24 million, $15 million and $8 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6360339&loc=d3e1361-107760 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.13-14) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Accounting Principles Board Opinion (APB) -Number 12 -Paragraph 5 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 360 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391035&loc=d3e2868-110229 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 360 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391110&loc=d3e2921-110230 + Details
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