TrustPower wants to grab more of the financially lucrative peak power periods to help boost earnings and says it will not cost hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve.
Higher wholesale electricity prices helped boost the Tauranga-based power company's bottom line, with its profit rising 17% to $131.7 million for the year to the end of March compared with the previous year.
TrustPower has 36 small to medium-sized hydro-generation plants and a large wind farm in New Zealand, with another wind farm in South Australia.
Chief executive Vince Hawksworth says the company is identifying which of its hydro plants are worth investing in to add more generation, which can be used when wholesale power prices spike.
Mr Hawksworth says TrustPower expects that electricity prices will become more volatile over time and generation that can meet peak demand will become more valuable. The increases will be incremental, rather than having big new projects.
"I think in the current environment in New Zealand with flat load growth and a somewhat oversupplied market on the average, this is where we can create some more value in the business," he says.
Mr Hawksworth says the intention is to have projects with low capital costs which provide good returns with short payback periods.
