Ill wind compounds blows to Infigen Energy

As if the uncertainty about the future of the renewable energy target was not enough, and falling wholesale energy prices, Infigen Energy has also been hit by a large fall in output from its wind farms in Australia.

Infigen Energy, the largest listed renewable energy company in Australia, has revealed a 24 per cent slump in output from its Australian wind farms to just 375 gigawatt hours in the first quarter of 2014/15, down from 491GWh in the same period a year earlier.

That, combined, with a fall in wholesale electricity prices, and the price of renewable energy certificates due to uncertainty over the RET, resulted in a 28 per cent fall in Australian revenues to $33.1 million from $46 million. The average price per megawatt hour fell to $88.3/MWh from $93.7/MWh.

Revenues from the US actually rose 6 per cent to $24.5 million because wind output there increased, and prices were marginally higher.

Infigen Energy warned in August that it  faced  “significant asset impairments”, and warned of pressure on its ability to meet the financial covenants in its borrowing facilities, if the RET uncertainty continued.

The company owns 556MW of wind generation in Australia, including the Capital wind farm that Treasurer Joe Hockey says he finds “utterly offensive.”