Monday, August 19, 2019

New Zealand: Record Annual Geothermal Generation for Mercury

Mercury rises to challenge with strong FY2019 result (Scoop)

Mercury produced a strong result under unusual weather and market conditions in its financial year to 30 June 2019, Chief Executive Fraser Whineray said today.

Announcing Mercury’s annual results, Mr Whineray said that the overall performance of the business was even more pleasing than last year’s record earnings, as Mercury executed a number of key strategic moves to position the company for long-term sustainable growth.

Annual geothermal generation set a record, reaching 2,896GWh, coinciding with record high annual spot prices caused in part by gas supply and thermal generation constraints from October 2018.

“Our assets were prudently managed through challenging weather and wholesale market conditions. High geothermal availability (97.7%), as the only renewable energy source that is not weather dependent, maximised the opportunity of historically high spot prices,” said Whineray.