WIND farm investment is suffering from a ''bust'' due to complex policy changes and uncertainty over government responses to climate change, says Infigen Energy.
The company's shares have lost a quarter of their value since June but it is confident this will become a ''boom'' within a few years, as power retailers are forced to obtain a growing share of their electricity from renewable sources.
The country's biggest specialist wind developer has reported a $73.5 million full-year loss, after asset sales delivered it a $192.9 million profit last year.
The result comes after Infigen this year abandoned plans to sell wind farms in Germany and the US, underlining the difficult conditions for asset sales in the industry.
Amid unconfirmed reports some big investors in the former Babcock & Brown offshoot have been selling down their stakes in the company, Infigen explained its share price decline by pointing to a global decline in renewable energy share prices.
''The sentiment towards renewable energy businesses generally has weakened in the last 12 months,'' the chief executive, Miles George, said.
''There's been a reduced interest in climate change measures and therefore an associated reduced interest in renewable energy stocks generally over the last year, and we haven't been immune to that.''
Investor confidence in renewable power was shaken after the lack of progress at the Copenhagen summit last year and the deferral of emissions trading in the US.
Domestically, smaller players in wind have also been stung by a plunge in the value of renewable energy certificates (REC), issued to wind farm investors, after a boom in small-scale solar power investment.
Although the federal government moved to boost REC market confidence in June, Mr George said the complex changes were taking time to filter through the market. This had left some independent wind developers in ''bust'' conditions for now.
Despite these challenges, Infigen is banking on a future boom as power retailers scramble to meet a government requirement to obtain 20 per cent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.
Mr George said Infigen would consider floating its US wind business in the years ahead, after a sales process this year failed to attract a high enough bid. With a growing focus on Australia, Infigen expects to turn a profit in its underlying business in the ''medium term'' of about three years, as its interest costs fall and production ramps up.
It expects to pay a dividend of at least 2¢, and leave dividends at a similar level until it is consistently posting profits. Infigen shares closed at 66¢. Mr George's total remuneration rose 44 per cent to $1.44 million over the year, up from $997,000 last year, helped by the settlement of $847,000 in share-based payments.
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