Managing director, Jeff Harding said he was delighted with the result, in a year where domestic and international projects performed well with the company benefiting from new operations in Australia, Chile and Fiji.

Pacific Hydro reported installed generation capacity had increased by 139% from 95MW to 227MW as a result of greenfield projects and acquisitions completed during the year.

“Excluding this one-off [tax] benefit, there is still a significant improvement on the previous year’s earnings, largely as a result of bringing new quality projects into operation as we grow the company,” said Harding.

“These record results have been achieved despite a reduction in tariff at the Ord hydro and a weaker US dollar exchange rate which reduced Australian dollar earnings from the Philippines. The increase in earnings has also been achieved during a period of considerable activity on new project development which will provide significant incremental earnings in the future.”

Operational highlights included the contractual completion of the Challicum Hills wind farm which increased Pacific Hydro’s installed capacity by 52.5MW; and the acquisition of two Chilean hydro assets, Coya and Pangal (76.3 MW) from the Chilean state-owned copper corporation CODELCO for US$75.6 million, increasing Pacific Hydro’s generation capacity to 227.3MW.

Additionally Pacific Hydro entered a joint venture with Statkraft Norfund Power Invest to develop the 155MW La Higuera hydro project in Chile and the subsequent successful negotiation of a power sales agreement with the SAESA Group for this project.

“In the 2003/04 financial year Pacific Hydro made significant investments by executing major projects that have been central to our business strategy. These investments, as well as other strategic initiatives, have cemented our position as one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies and have provided opportunities for substantial growth in 2005 and beyond,” Harding said.