Originally Posted by
Jantar
Yes it is through hedging, but not through pre-selling as they seemed to indicate at last year's AGM. Rather it is by forward buying a hedge for around half the energy they expect to generate, and making a price gaurantee (at more than their purchase price of course) to an end user or users for that quantity, say a university or large coolstore etc. Thus there is a continuous income, even when there is no wind, and a fixed price for some of their generation even when there is a lot of wind.
Contact, MRP and Genisis all offered such hedges to the market early last year, and there were no takers. As a result both Otahuhu and Southdown have been shutdown, and it could be a while before such an opportunity is given to the market again.