MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 13, 2004-- Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that Genesis Power Ltd.'s (Genesis) 'BBB+/A-2' ratings and stable outlook are likely to be unaffected following announcement that the company will develop a 385MW combined-cycle gas turbine, with assistance from the New Zealand Government (local currency, AAA/Stable/A-1+; foreign currency AA+/Stable/A-1+). The assistance of the Crown in developing Huntly e3p is in line with its policy of encouraging new generation capacity. "New Zealand has had little material addition to generation capacity for some time, and with solid electricity demand growth, the substantial exposure of its dominant hydro-generation to climatic risk, and the run down in gas reserves, the Crown's assistance in the project is not a surprise",
