Member Article

Renewable energy facility gets green light for funding

Renewable energy facility gets green light for funding

March 2020

A North East based renewable energy developer has secured additional funding to construct biogas generation facilities in Staffordshire, with help from UK Top 100 northern law firm Ward Hadaway.

The proposed facility converts agricultural feedstock and waste material into green gas for injection into the gas mains. When operational the plant will generate sufficient green gas to heat approximately 5,000 houses and will prevent nearly 133,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. The plant will also produce high yield renewable fertiliser for use on local farmland, further reducing the carbon footprint of farmers in the vicinity of the plant.

The Staffordshire development is the latest renewable scheme from EOS, a North Yorkshire based developer of energy projects across the UK. The company has worked with Ward Hadaway for many years on a range of technologies.

Lawyers from Ward Hadaway’s Energy Team supported EOS on various aspects of the transaction, building on substantial specialist experience in the energy and biogas sector. The lead lawyer on the project was commercial partner Matthew Cormack, working alongside lawyers in the firms banking, finance, property and construction teams.

Matthew Flint from EOS said; “It has been a pleasure to work with Ward Hadaway on this project. They’re the leading energy lawyers in the region, capable of combining an unrivalled level of commitment and knowledge to drive deals through to completion.

“Getting complex projects to financial close can be a stressful and demanding process. We know that we can rely on the team at Ward Hadaway to help us complete transactions in the challenging time frames we have to work to.

“Our latest development is part of our strategy to deliver additional energy generation schemes to meet UK renewable energy targets. We have several schemes in the pipeline for 2020 and beyond and are actively looking for further opportunities across the country in a range of technologies. Working with Ward Hadaway’s Energy Team gives us the confidence that we can rely on our lawyers to support the growth of our business.”

The project follows 12 months of development work, supported throughout by members of the Ward Hadaway Energy Team, led by Mark Whitehead. The firm was involved in structuring the project, as well as negotiating all major commercial arrangements to bring the project to fruition, working with lawyers for the various parties based in London, Germany, Staffordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Matthew Cormack said; “It is great to get this project to financial close and enable the construction phase to begin. This was a complex transaction, with very challenging timescales. Working at pace we delivered strategic and technical advice across several disciplines. I’m looking forward to working with the team at EOS on future projects.”

Mark Whitehead, head of the Energy Team at Ward Hadaway added; “As Ward Hadaway is the leading law firm in the North advising the energy sector, we’re able to support clients on a range of generation, distribution and retail matters.

“Having worked on many projects in the energy sector, we have a deep understanding of these types of infrastructure projects, through our experience working with debt and equity funders, developers, and landlords. We also have a sizeable, multi-disciplinary team that allows us to leverage cross-cutting, sector-specific legal knowledge to ensure our clients receive pragmatic, practical advice, equivalent to that provided by some of the larger UK national and London based practices.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rachel McBryde .