16 November 2018

AGM PRESENTATIONS

Attached are the presentations to be delivered at Infigen Energy's (ASX: IFN) 2018 Annual General Meeting to be held today at 11am (AEDT) at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, 27 O'Connell Street, Sydney.

The Annual General Meeting will be webcast and can be viewed via the Infigen Energy website atwww.infigenenergy.com/agm-2018.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Investors:

Media:

Sylvia Wiggins

Hayley Morris

Olivia Brown

Executive Director - Finance &

MorrisBrown Communications

MorrisBrown Communications

Commercial

+61 407 789 018

+61 409 524 960

+61 2 8031 9900

About Infigen Energy

Infigen Energy is a leading Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed energy market participant delivering energy solutions to Australian businesses and large retailers.

Infigen supplies clean energy from a combination of renewable energy generation and firming solutions available from the broader energy market to Australian business customers.

Infigen is a licensed energy retailer in the National Electricity Market (NEM) regions of Queensland, New South Wales (including the Australian Capital Territory), Victoria and South Australia. The company has wind generation assets in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. Infigen is also developing options for firming in the NEM to support its business strategy.

Infigen is proudly Australia's largest listed owner of wind power generators by installed capacity of 557MW, with a further 113.2MW under construction in New South Wales, and actively supports the communities in which it operates. For further information, please visit:www.infigenenergy.com

Annual General Meetings of Security Holders Infigen Energy

11am AEST, 16 November 2018

CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Len Gill and I'm the Chairman of Infigen Energy. As both Chairman and a fellow security holder, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our 2018 Annual General Meeting.

I acknowledge the Gadigal people; the traditional custodians of this land. I also pay respect to elders both past and present of the Eora nation, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal people present.

Our Company Secretary advises that a quorum of security holders is present. I now declare the Infigen Energy Annual General Meeting open. All security holders have been sent the Notice of Meeting. We will take that as read. Please let our staff know if you need another copy.

The proxy votes received for today's resolutions have been inspected by our security registry. All validly lodged proxies have been accepted. The numbers of proxy votes for each resolution will be displayed on the screen as we deal with each resolution. As Chairman I will cast all undirected proxies that I hold in favour of the relevant resolutions.

Introductions

Before we start the formal business of the Meeting, I would like to introduce the Board of Directors.

Ross Rolfe is our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Ross has been in that role since late-2016, but has been a non-executive director since 2011.

Sylvia Wiggins is our Executive Director of Finance & Commercial, having been appointed in May 2017. Sylvia was also previously a non-executive director, appointed in April 2016.

Emma Stein joined the Board as an independent non-executive director in September 2017. Emma is Chairman of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee and a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee.

Mark Chellew joined the Board as an independent non-executive director in September 2017. Mark is Chairman of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee.

One of our fellow Board members, Philip Green, is not able to be present with us today. Phil has not been able to fly to Australia at this time and has offered his apology for the meeting. Phil is the nominee director of The Children's Investment Master Fund, which holds approximately 33% of our securities. Phil has been a non-executive director since November 2010 and is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee.

As indicated in the Notice of Meeting, Phil retires by rotation at this AGM and offers himself for re-election.

I joined the Board as an independent Director in June 2017 and was elected Chairman in December that year upon the retirement of Mike Hutchinson.

Further information regarding the experience and qualifications of each Director is included in the Annual Report.

We are joined today by Infigen's Company Secretary, David Richardson, and by members of Infigen's senior Management team.

The Company's external auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is present today represented by Marc Upcroft and Craig Thomason. I thank both gentleman for their attendance.

Infigen's 2018 Annual Report details the Company's financial and operating performance during the year. Copies of the report are available at this meeting.

FY18 OVERVIEW

Over the last two years, Infigen Energy has been transitioning its business model to adapt to changes in the Australian electricity market. I am pleased to report on the progress we have made during FY18 and outline the challenges and opportunities ahead. I will be followed by our MD Ross Rolfe who will take you through these in more detail.

Safety

The safety of our people and the communities in which we operate remains our first priority. We are relentless in the pursuit of continuous improvement to our culture and safety systems as we seek to achieve zero harm.

During the past 12 months we have combined engineering solutions and improved work practices to further reduce or eliminate safety risks from our operating assets. We have continued to review any incidents or accidents to determine how they can be avoided in the future.

We recorded one lost time injury in FY18. Pleasingly, Lake Bonney and Alinta wind farms marked more than 10 years without any lost time injuries. But we are not complacent.

Maintaining our assets necessarily involves technicians working with high voltages and at height, creating potential safety risks which must be carefully managed. We commend the diligence and vigilance with which Infigen staff and our contractor teams have maintained their focus and embedded safety as part of their mindset, attitudes and daily work practices.

We remain focused on managing the risks during construction at the Bodangora Wind Farm, which is in its final stages, and the construction of our South Australian battery project, which is in its early stages. We continue to strive for our goal of zero harm every day.

Our Performance

Our FY 18 Results were characterized by strong financial performance and significant progress in the transitioning of Infigen Energy to being an active participant in the energy market.

Highlights included:

  • We increased our Underlying EBITDA by 7% to $149.1 million, in a period where electricity price saw some moderation from the highs of FY17

  • Our production increased to 1,549 gigawatt hours of renewable energy, up 4% from FY17.

  • We successfully executed our Multi-Channel Route to Market strategy. This has delivered better than targeted generation sales to C&I customers and our electricity revenue is now better balanced in tenor across the portfolio.

  • We received strong pricing in the face of flat or declining prices as a result of our contracting strategy. In NSW Infigen's electricity price increased 7% during a period of flat NSW wholesale prices and in South Australia we maintained flat pricing where the market saw a wholesale price decline.

  • We delivered a capital structure to support our business strategy. This creates flexibility to allow Infigen to manage all assets as one portfolio and provides liquidity facilities to support the execution of the business strategy. It is especially pleasing to have secured this refinancing package at this time, given uncertainties regarding the outlook for debt and equity markets and uncertain Australian energy market policy settings. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Ross and particularly Sylvia Wiggins and her finance team in this regard.

  • We also successfully advanced our strategy for Firming, through investment in a Battery Energy Storage System in South Australia. This allows us to contract further customers in South Australia while managing the risks associated with our intermittent production. Construction of the 25 MW, 52MWh BESS is already underway. Access to energy storage also creates the ability to supply ancillary services, ensuring increased security and quality of supply and fast response services as demand requires. Infigen is playing its role in ensuring that the system remains secure and reliable, while transitioning to a generation mix comprising dispatchable and intermittent generation with a lower carbon emissions footprint.

The Energy Policy Debate

It is a great frustration to the market and broader population that national energy policy remains unresolved.

Personally, as a participant in the energy industry of nearly 40 years, it is disappointing to see energy policy simplified by some to calls of "let's use a big stick" and the occasional outcry from others of "we want a new coal plant." It is also amazing to see so many expert reports commissioned, and key recommendations disregarded.

The following is a list of few of the key factors at work in the Australian energy market:

  • Energy from renewable energy generation is now lower cost than that produced by black coal and gas sources.

  • Our legacy coal generation fleet is ageing and becoming less reliable.

  • The demand profile to be served by dispatchable plant is becoming peakier and more variable due to increasing installation of renewable energy sources in front of and behind the meter.

Of course, all this needs to be in the context of Australia's commitments and the public's desire to play its role in addressing global CO2 emissions.

The energy challenges we currently face will not be solved by 1970's solutions.

In short, the industry is transitioning to a mix of lower cost - and lower emission - sources of intermittent generation which must be matched with a progressively increasing variety of sources of flexible dispatchable generation and storage.

There is little doubt that investor confidence is being adversely affected by the ongoing uncertainty in energy policy.

A focus for all governments should be to re-establish policy settings which rebuild investor confidence to ensure the industry is willing to make the necessary investments.

While the electricity market continues to be volatile and national policy remains unresolved, the fundamental direction remains clear, although the pace of change is uncertain.

It is against this back drop that the Board continues to make decisions about investment and our strategic future.

Ross Rolfe will cover these issues and how they impact our business in more detail in his address.

Business Strategy Update

Infigen continues to increase and deepen its participation in the energy market. With increased revenue stability and multiple channels to market for sales of electricity and LGCs, Infigen has positioned itself to benefit from growth and development opportunities.

Our strategy focuses on growth through being able to contract our capacity for sales, a significant widening of our marketing channels to target C&I customers rather than the traditional long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) markets, and a more active management of our portfolio and its risk profile.

Specifically, we have identified three interrelated growth opportunities: Firming Capacity, Growth in Generation and Customer Service Capability. Underpinning our strategic pathway is increasing Infigen's ability to manage risks associated with contracting firm supply; growing additional generation; and enhancing Infigen's ability to better service customers through improved retailing capability.

New technology is starting to play a role in ensuring that intermittent renewable energy generation can be accommodated effectively as part of the transmission and distribution grid. Batteries, Open Cycle Gas Turbines and pumped storage are expected to make an increasing contribution to grid stability and over time, in dispatch. Infigen is and will continue to be part of that evolution.

In particular, our investment in firming technology with our grid scale battery in South Australia increases our capacity to pursue additional C&I sales while protecting our contract and pricing position during times of high energy prices and reduced generation.

Firming also enables Infigen to respond to changing market dynamics which we believe is consistent with the likely objectives of future energy policy.

Infigen's business strategy is supported by detailed work and a long-term - but flexible - planning framework to which we are all committed.

Attachments

  • Original document
  • Permalink

Disclaimer

Infigen Energy Limited published this content on 16 November 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 16 November 2018 00:13:02 UTC