I’m not clear on the exact settlement of WA electricity. But it...

I’m not clear on the exact settlement of WA electricity.  But it seems you can sell at the live rate (fixed every 30m?) or sell on the short term market.  Volatility seems high but prices in the 50-80MWh seem about right on average.  See: https://www.erawa.com.au/cproot/18107/2/2016 2017 WEM Report Discussion paper.pdf

The thing about Northam is really what the asset will be worth given the cash flows are unknown and volatile.  What price did we sell it for at 50% and how much will it cost including financing to build.  It’s probably only worth around 20mil as a back of the envelope guess (no premium for being renewable).  We should receive around 10 from the equity sale then 500k/1mi, cash.  Or we can try and sell the stake for another 10.  This only works if we build (inc finance) for a good margin under that asset valuation.  Otherwise we are literally throwing money away. PPA can be valued as a cashflow schedule.  Merchant can’t as easily.  It’s more like pricing a derivative with a highly volatile underlying.  I guess that’s why this is an unusual risk/reward play.