A 40% lift in profits from Australia saved International Power plc from a lacklustre year with profits of £1,157m ($US1,730.5m) — up 10%.
The shining Australian assets were baseload Hazelwood Power (1675MW) and peaker Synergen (371MW) which, together with it other subsidiaries, brought in a local profit of £233m ($US348.4m).
International Power's Australian operations total 3723MW of generating power comprising Canunda (wind) 46MW; Pelican Point (gas) 487MW; Synergen (gas) 371MW; Hazelwood (coal) 1675MW; Loy Yang B (coal) 1026MW; and Kwinana (gas) 58MW.
It also has a retailer (Simple Energy) and a pipeline (SEA gas).
Hazelwood, which had an unplanned boiler repair outage in 2008, delivered a good operational performance in 2009 with an achieved price of $A45 ($US49.58) up from $A43 ($US47.38) at a load factor of 80% (2008: 75%).
″For 2010, we have forward contracted 50% of our expected output (load factor 80%) at Hazelwood and expect to achieve an average price of $A43/MWh,″ the company reported.
Profit from operations in North America decreased 24% to £134m compared to £177m ($US192.8m) last year (down 36% at constant currency).
Financial performance was principally impacted by weak market conditions and a lower write back of provisions at Coleto Creek (632MW) relating to out-of-the-money power contracts that were in place when the asset was acquired.
Profit from operations in Europe increased 8% to £629m ($US1036.6m) from £581m ($US957.5m) ~ up 7% reflecting an improved contribution from Rugeley (1000MW) in the UK, which had an extended outage in 2008, and a strong performance at Saltend, also in the UK.
″Our contracted plants in Iberia and Turkey continued to operate well and delivered a consistent financial performance,″ the company said.
Saltend (1200MW) performed strongly, achieving a spark spread of £25/MWh ($US41.20) which is a big improvement on 2008 at £17/MWh ($US28) at a load factor of 85%.
The Middle East also improved with profits increasing 23% to £85m ($US140m), up from £69m.
The region benefited from good overall operational performance and a first full-year contribution from the additional capacity at Ras Laffan B (1025MW).
Profit from Asia also help bolster the til being up 23% at £128m ($US191.4m) driven by increased contributions from Uch (586MW) in Pakistan.
International Power reports demand for power throughout Asia continues to grow strongly.
New generation capacity is required, not only reflecting economic growth, but also the progressive expansion of distribution grids aimed at connecting more of the population to the power network.
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett (pictured) has sought to deflect attention from yesterday's move by the State Government to hike electricity prices, saying he would seek to scrap bonuses for the chiefs of WA's publicly-owned power utilities.
EUROPE's system for industrial carbon quotas has enriched the continent's biggest polluters, with ten firms together reaping permits for 2008 alone worth €500m, a new report revealed.
Dominated by steel and cement makers, the same ″carbon fat cats″ stand to collect
A group of 10 companies including Areva SA and Siemens AG will propose a plan today for a North Sea electricity ″super-grid″ connecting the U.K., Germany and Norway, the Financial Times has just reported.
The group, called the Friends of the Super-grid, aims to appoint a
DID anyone notice? Australia’s federal government has dropped its emission trading scheme rhetoric and switched all its energies to the takeover of the country’s hospitals.
Did anyone also notice the remarkable similarity to what is happening in Canberra to what has happened in
AS Australia heads towards its next Federal election later this year its electricity industry train wreck is no closer to any form of certainty for investors.
Federally Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is letting it be known he can pull a double dissolution of parliament because of a recal
CONCEPT planning approval has been given for coal or gas-fired power stations either side of Sydney.
The new Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook in the NSW Hunter Valley has been approved for 2000MW to accompany Macquarie Generation’s present complex.
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It looks like the wind is blowing strong these days in Texas. On Sunday February 28, it broke a wind power electricity generation record with 6,242MW on the ERCOT grid, and that record was broken again five days later on Friday March 5 with a 6,272MW peak and this is just for ERCOT, it doesn't include wind turbines on the "Panhandle" part of the state because they are connected to a different grid ~ so the real total for the state would be even higher. Texas has by far the most wind power capacity in the US. According to recent numbers by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the lone star state has a wind energy generation capacity of 9,410MW, followed by Iowa with 3,870MW and California with 2,794MW.
Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has rejected calls to regulate the installation of new ″smart meters″ in homes. He said he had agreed to the Electricity Commission's recommendation not to regulate the meters because the benefits would not outweigh the costs. Power companies including Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy and Contact Energy are installing smart meters in homes throughout the country. Retailers say the meters will be installed at about 80% of New Zealand's almost two million meter sites by the end of 2013. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and Grey Power have called for a moratorium on installation, saying power companies were rushing to install the meters to make money from customers who were previously undercharged. Meridian has confirmed 4500 Christchurch customers had been sent letters advising them their tariffs would rise after they had smart meters installed, as they had been undercharged previously. The new meters are also being installed without a home area network (HAN) smart chip that would allow them to communicate with other energy-efficient devices in homes, prompting commissioner Jan Wright to label them ″dumb meters″.
PLUS what's on today and what's in the daily newspaper along with other important overnight news.
The American Superconductor Corp. reports it has landed $10m from a Chinese company for electrical components for wind turbines. Under the deal, Devens-based AMSC will provide CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute Co. Ltd. with components for 1.65MW wind turbines designed by AMSC’s Windtec subsidiary. The Chinese company licensed the turbine technology in 2006 and has the rights to manufacture, use and sell AMSC’s system. CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute is based in Hunan province in China and is a subsidiary of manufacturing company China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corp. This is the third such order for AMSC this year. Last month, AMSC won a $70m initial order from Shenyang Blower Works (Group) Co. Ltd. for full wind turbine electrical control systems. In January, Chinese manufacturer XJ Group Corp. ordered 100 sets of wind turbine electrical components.
Stock Prices
Tuesday's Australian Electricity price
NSW
41.2747.
0.1244
VIC
39.2387
2.0246
QLD
354068.
0.1698
SA
54.8400
4.7418
Monday's New Zealand average
power price. (c/kWh)
NZ
10.6985
0.8413
The S&P/ASX 200 Utilities index closed Tuesday down 6.50 points ending the day at 4311.3.
A team of scientists at MIT has discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes, a discovery that could lead to a new way of producing electricity . . . DNA
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