v3.19.1

Variable Interest Entities and Unconsolidated Investments | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2018
Variable Interest Entities and Unconsolidated Investments [Abstract] |
Variable Interest Entities and Unconsolidated Investments [Text Block] | Variable Interest Entities and Unconsolidated Investments We consolidate all of our VIEs where we have determined that we are the primary beneficiary. There were no changes to our determination of whether we are the primary beneficiary of our VIEs for the year ended December 31, 2018. We have the following types of VIEs consolidated in our financial statements: Subsidiaries with Project Debt — All of our subsidiaries with project debt not guaranteed by Calpine have PPAs that provide financial support and are thus considered VIEs. We retain ownership and absorb the full risk of loss and potential for reward once the project debt is paid in full. Actions by the lender to assume control of collateral can occur only under limited circumstances such as upon the occurrence of an event of default. See Note 8 for further information regarding our project debt and Note 3 for information regarding our restricted cash balances. Subsidiaries with PPAs — Certain of our majority owned subsidiaries have PPAs that limit the risk and reward of our ownership and thus constitute a VIE. VIE with a Purchase Option — OMEC has a ten-year tolling agreement with SDG&E which commenced on October 3, 2009. Under a ground lease agreement, OMEC holds a put option to sell the Otay Mesa Energy Center for $280 million to SDG&E, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the agreement, which is exercisable until April 1, 2019 and SDG&E held a call option to purchase the Otay Mesa Energy Center for $377 million, which was exercisable through October 3, 2018. The call option held by SDG&E expired unexercised. OMEC has executed a new 59-month Resource Adequacy (“RA”) contract with SDG&E, which will commence on October 3, 2019. The RA contract received initial regulatory approval by the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) on February 21, 2019. This approval was subject to a 30 day appeal period from the date of the issuance of the CPUC decision. On March 27, 2019, an appeal of the CPUC decision was filed with the CPUC. While we have no way of predicting the outcome of the appeals process, we continue to evaluate alternatives. OMEC will exercise the put before April 1, 2019. In the event that either the appeal of the RA contract decision is not decided or another alternative is not agreed to by the parties prior to October 3, 2019, OMEC expects to close on the put and transfer the Otay Mesa Energy Center to SDG&E for $280 million on or about October 3, 2019, which transaction could result in a write down of the carrying value of the asset. On December 19, 2018, we refinanced the project debt associated with OMEC which lowered the aggregate debt balance to $220 million and extended the maturity to August 2024. In the event that the OMEC put option is exercised, the debt will become payable on November 3, 2019. We have concluded that we are the primary beneficiary of OMEC as we believe the activity that has the most effect on the financial performance of OMEC is operations and maintenance which is controlled by us. As a result, we consolidate OMEC. Consolidation of VIEs We consolidate our VIEs where we determine that we have both the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly affect the VIE’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses or receive benefits from the VIE. We have determined that we hold the obligation to absorb losses and receive benefits in almost all of our VIEs where we hold the majority equity interest. Therefore, our determination of whether to consolidate is based upon which variable interest holder has the power to direct the most significant activities of the VIE (the primary beneficiary). Our analysis includes consideration of the following primary activities which we believe to have a significant effect on a power plant’s financial performance: operations and maintenance, plant dispatch, and fuel strategy as well as our ability to control or influence contracting and overall plant strategy. Our approach to determining which entity holds the powers and rights is based on powers held as of the balance sheet date. Contractual terms that may change the powers held in future periods, such as a purchase or sale option, are not considered in our analysis. Based on our analysis, we believe that we hold the power and rights to direct the most significant activities for most of our majority-owned VIEs. Under our consolidation policy and under U.S. GAAP we also:
• | perform an ongoing reassessment each reporting period of whether we are the primary beneficiary of our VIEs; and
• | evaluate if an entity is a VIE and whether we are the primary beneficiary whenever any changes in facts and circumstances occur, such as contractual changes where the holders of the equity investment at risk, as a group, lose the power from voting rights or similar rights of those investments to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly affect the VIE’s economic performance or when there are other changes in the powers held by individual variable interest holders.
Noncontrolling Interest — We own a 75% interest in Russell City Energy Company, LLC, one of our VIEs, which is also 25% owned by a third party. We fully consolidate this entity in our Consolidated Financial Statements and account for the third party ownership interest as a noncontrolling interest. VIE Disclosures Our consolidated VIEs include natural gas-fired power plants with an aggregate capacity of 7,880 MW and 7,880 MW, at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. For these VIEs, we may provide other operational and administrative support through various affiliate contractual arrangements among the VIEs, Calpine Corporation and its other wholly-owned subsidiaries whereby we support the VIE through the reimbursement of costs and/or the purchase and sale of energy. Other than amounts contractually required, we provided support to these VIEs in the form of cash and other contributions of nil, nil and $115 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. U.S. GAAP requires separate disclosure on the face of our Consolidated Balance Sheets of the significant assets of a consolidated VIE that can be used only to settle obligations of the consolidated VIE and the significant liabilities of a consolidated VIE for which creditors (or beneficial interest holders) do not have recourse to the general credit of the primary beneficiary. In determining which assets of our VIEs meet the separate disclosure criteria, we consider that this separate disclosure requirement is met where Calpine Corporation is substantially limited or prohibited from access to assets (primarily cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and property, plant and equipment), and where our VIEs have project financing that prohibits the VIE from providing guarantees on the debt of others. In determining which liabilities of our VIEs meet the separate disclosure criteria, we consider that this separate disclosure requirement is met where there are agreements that prohibit the debt holders of the VIEs from recourse to the general credit of Calpine Corporation and where the amounts are material to our financial statements. Unconsolidated VIEs and Investments in Unconsolidated Subsidiaries We have a 50% partnership interest in Greenfield LP and in Whitby. Greenfield LP and Whitby are VIEs; however, we do not have the power to direct the most significant activities of these entities and therefore do not consolidate them. Greenfield LP is a limited partnership between certain subsidiaries of ours and of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., which operates the Greenfield Energy Centre, a 1,038 MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle power plant located in Ontario, Canada. We and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. each hold a 50% interest in Greenfield LP. Whitby is a limited partnership between certain of our subsidiaries and Atlantic Packaging Ltd., which operates the Whitby facility, a 50 MW natural gas-fired, simple-cycle cogeneration power plant located in Ontario, Canada. We and Atlantic Packaging Ltd. each hold a 50% partnership interest in Whitby. In December 2016, we acquired Calpine Receivables, a bankruptcy remote entity created for the special purpose of purchasing trade accounts receivable from Calpine Solutions under the Accounts Receivable Sales Program. Calpine Receivables is a VIE as we have determined that we do not have the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly affect the VIE’s economic performance nor the obligation to absorb losses or receive benefits from the VIE. Accordingly, we have determined that we are not the primary beneficiary of Calpine Receivables as we do not have the power to affect its financial performance as the unaffiliated financial institutions that purchase the receivables from Calpine Receivables control the selection criteria of the receivables sold and appoint the servicer of the receivables which controls management of default. Thus, we do not consolidate Calpine Receivables in our Consolidated Financial Statements and use the equity method of accounting to record our net interest in Calpine Receivables. We account for these entities under the equity method of accounting and include our net equity interest in investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, our equity method investments included on our Consolidated Balance Sheets were comprised of the following (in millions):
| Ownership Interest as of December 31, 2018 |  | 2018 |  | 2017
Greenfield LP | 50% |  | $ | 55 |  |  | $ | 92 |
Whitby | 50% |  | 15 |  |  | 6 |
Calpine Receivables | 100% |  | 6 |  |  | 8 |
Total investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries |  |  | $ | 76 |  |  | $ | 106 |
Our risk of loss related to our investments in Greenfield LP and Whitby is limited to our investment balance. Our risk of loss related to our investment in Calpine Receivables is $44 million which consists of our notes receivable from Calpine Receivables at December 31, 2018, and our initial investment associated with Calpine Receivables. See Note 17 for further information associated with our related party activity with Calpine Receivables. Holders of the debt of our unconsolidated investments do not have recourse to Calpine Corporation and its other subsidiaries; therefore, the debt of our unconsolidated investments is not reflected on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. On October 5, 2018, Greenfield LP refinanced and upsized its debt. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, Greenfield LP’s debt was approximately $301 million and $256 million, respectively, and based on our pro rata share of our investment in Greenfield LP, our share of such debt would be approximately $151 million and $128 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our equity interest in the net income from our investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, is recorded in (income) loss from unconsolidated subsidiaries. The following table sets forth details of our (income) loss from unconsolidated subsidiaries and distributions for the years indicated (in millions):
| (Income) loss from Unconsolidated Subsidiaries |  | Distributions
| 2018 |  | 2017 |  | 2016 |  | 2018 |  | 2017 |  | 2016
Greenfield LP | $ | (11 | ) |  | $ | (14 | ) |  | $ | (10 | ) |  | $ | 48 |  |  | $ | 8 |  |  | $ | 8 |
Whitby | (15 | ) |  | (10 | ) |  | (14 | ) |  | 5 |  |  | 20 |  |  | 13 |
Calpine Receivables | 2 |  |  | 2 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Total | $ | (24 | ) |  | $ | (22 | ) |  | $ | (24 | ) |  | $ | 53 |  |  | $ | 28 |  |  | $ | 21 |
Inland Empire Energy Center Put and Call Options — We held a call option to purchase the Inland Empire Energy Center (a 775 MW natural gas-fired power plant located in California) at predetermined prices from GE that could be exercised between years 2017 and 2024. GE held a put option whereby they could require us to purchase the power plant, if certain plant performance criteria are met by 2025. On February 1, 2019, we entered into an agreement with GE which, among other things, terminated our call option and GE’s put option related to the Inland Empire Energy Center. As per this agreement, we will take ownership of the facility site and certain site infrastructure and equipment at a future date. We have determined that we are not the primary beneficiary of the Inland Empire power plant, and we do not consolidate it due to the fact that GE continues to direct the most significant activities of the power plant including operations and maintenance, and will continue in this capacity until the point that the facility site is transferred to Calpine.

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