DLA Piper has advised Prime Capital AG, an independent asset manager and financial services provider, and Enlight Renewable Energy (Enlight), the Tel-Aviv-listed independent power producer, on a co-investment in the ready-to-build Björnberget wind park project in central Sweden. This is Prime Capital’s first investment from its newly launched Prime Green Energy Infrastructure Fund (PGEIF).
The Björnberget wind farm is one of the largest onshore wind projects to start construction in Europe in 2020 and was developed by RES, the world’s largest independent renewable energy company. The project is expected to reach commercial operation at the beginning of 2023.
As well as advising on the acquisition, DLA Piper also assisted in negotiating the full suite of construction and operational agreements. This includes a bespoke turbine supply agreement with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy for the new SG 5.8-170, which has the largest rotor in the onshore market, as well as the long term service and availability agreement, as well as the balance of plant agreement for the project, and the commercial and technical management agreements for the operating phase, both to be provided by RES.
DLA Piper continues to advise Prime Capital in exclusive negotiations with a global technology company to sign a 10-12 year corporate power purchase agreement (cPPA), offtaking roughly half of the project’s electricity production.
DLA Piper’s Finance and Projects partner, Fredrik Lindblom, says: “This is a landmark deal in the energy sector post-COVID. Project Björnberget, which makes Prime Capital the second largest investor in the Nordics, will produce energy for ca. 300,000 European households and help avoid over 600,000 tons of CO2 a year. We are delighted to have advised Prime Capital and Enlight on this transaction, which is further testament to the strength of our market leading renewable energy practice.”
DLA Piper’s Global Co-Chair of Energy and Natural Resources, Natasha Luther-Jones, adds: “We are very proud to have advised our clients Prime Capital and Enlight on such a strategically important project. Our Energy team has advised on over 5GW of completed on-shore wind transactions in the Nordic region in the last five years, providing integrated, multi-jurisdictional services covering project development, construction and operation, equity investment, project finance debt and offtake/PPA arrangements.”
The DLA Piper team advising on the transaction comprised over 30 lawyers across five jurisdictions, and was led by London-based Finance and Projects partner Fredrik Lindblom, alongside Stockholm-based partner Björn Sjöberg on the acquisition and Global Co-Chair of Energy and Natural Resources, Natasha Luther-Jones on the project documents and cPPA.
