Overview
Our Renewable Energy team’s advice is attuned to the client’s commercial imperatives, as well as to the political, technical, and stakeholder relationship aspects of the client’s business or operations. This frequently means a multidisciplinary, team-based approach to legal advice and problem-solving for our clients.
Our team is committed to working alongside our clients in a proactive manner, leveraging our expertise to provide you with legal advice for commercial solutions and working together for a positive outcome. We offer expert legal advice to clients in the renewable energy industry based on a combination of industry knowledge and legal expertise.
We offer a range of legal and strategic services, including:
- identifying and managing the legal and commercial issues associated with renewable energy projects; particularly wind and hydro projects
- advising on legislative impacts and compliance, including Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Cth)
- advising on the operation of the future green energy market and the process for trading renewable energy certificates
- advising on energy retailers requirements to surrender renewable energy certificates to the Renewable Energy Regulator
- strategic advice on the development of renewable energy projects to achieve renewable energy targets (including Renewable Energy Commercialisation Program and the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program).
We are a uniquely qualified team with outstanding experience in the renewable energy industry, major infrastructure development and the commercialisation of new technologies.
Experience
Examples of our recent experience include:
Wind farms
Project delivery
- Adviser to AGL Energy in relation to:
- Macarthur Wind Farm (330MW), Victoria
- Brown Hill Wind Farm (94.5MW), South Australia
- Hallett Hill Wind Farm (70MW), South Australia
- North Brown Hill Wind Farm (132.3MW), South Australia
- Oaklands Hill Wind Farm (60MW), Victoria
- Adviser to Investec in relation to the:
- Collgar Wind Farm (200MW, Western Australia)
- Adviser to Pacific Hydro in relation to:
- Portland Wind Farm (180MW), Victoria
- Clements Gap Wind Farm (67.5MW), Victoria
- Challicum Hills Wind Farm (52.5MW), Victoria
- Adviser to Roaring 40s in relation to the:
- Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm (66MW), South Australia
Financing
- Waterloo Wind Farm, South Australia
- Waubra Wind Farm, Victoria
- Wattle Point Wind Farm, South Australia
- Emu Downs Wind Farm, Western Australia
- Woolnorth Wind Farm, Tasmania
- Canunda Wind Farm, South Australia
- Brown Hill (Hallett 1) Wind Farm, South Australia – adviser to the lenders on the purchase by Perpetual
- North Brown Hill (Hallett 4) Wind Farm, South Australia – adviser to the lenders on the purchase by EII
- Hallett Hill (Hallett 2) Wind Farm, South Australia – adviser to the lenders on the purchase by ANZIS
Environment and planning
- Macarthur Wind Farm, Victoria
- Portland Wind Farm, Victoria
- Mt Mercer Wind Farm, Victoria
- Ryan Corner and Hawkesdale Wind Farms, Victoria
- Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm, Victoria
- Dollar Wind Farm, Victoria
- Woolnorth Wind Farm, Tasmania
- Carmody’s Hill Wind Farm, South Australia
- Newfield Wind Farm, Victoria
- Stockyard Hill Wind Farm, Victoria
- Lal Lal Wind Farm, Victoria
- Winchelsea Wind Farm, Victoria
- Crookwell Wind Farm, New South Wales
- Coopers Gap Wind Farm, Queensland
Offshore wind farm experience
- Wind farm opportunities, China
- Maharashtra Khandke Wind Farm, India
- Wind farm opportunity, Fiji
Hydroelectric power
- La Higuera Hydro Power Station (155MW), Chile
- La Confluencia Hydro Power Station (158MW), Chile
- Chacayes Hydro Power Station (111MW), Chile
- Cheves Hydro Power Station (168MW), Peru
- Wainikasou and Nagado Hydro Power Stations (9MW), Fiji
- Bakun Hydro Power Station (70MW), Philippines
- Bogong Hydro Power Station (140MW), Victoria
- Adviser to ALG Energy on its Bogong hydro-electricity generation project in Victoria
Other renewable energy infrastructure
- Dalby grain to ethanol Bio-Refinery, Queensland
- Solar cell development, Queensland
- Geothermal energy project, South Australia
- Biomass generator, New South Wales
- Savannah bagasse–coal power project, Mauritius
- Belle Vue bagasse–coal power project, Mauritius
- Rarawai bagasse–coal power project, Fiji
- Biodiesel plant, Singapore
- Biodiesel refinery plant, Northern Territory
Acquisitions, disposals and privatisations
- Pacific Hydro takeover by IFM
- Privatisation of Southern Hydro, Victoria
- Acquisition of Southern Hydro infrastructure assets (11 hydro power plants and one wind farm), Victoria
- Acquisition of Coya and Pangal Hydro Projects, Chile
- Acquisitions of various wind farms, Australia
Regulatory issues and trading initiatives
- Sale of CDM credits – adviser to Pacific Hydro on an agreement for the sale into Europe of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits from hydro-electricity projects
- Hallett wind farms – adviser on a novel arrangement whereby AGL sold its interests in the Hallett wind farms, but renewable energy credits generated from the wind farms were still credited to AGL
- Sale and purchase of green credits – adviser to AGL on the drafting of a generic agreement for the sale and purchase of green credits
- Regulatory advice, confidential client – advising to on the status of renewable energy certificates under the Financial Services Reform Act 2001 (Cth)
- Regulatory advice – adviser to a large number of clients on their responsibilities, liabilities and opportunities under the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Cth), including eligibility for renewable energy certificates and advising on terms of renewable energy certificates purchase agreements.
Working with you
Renewable energy is one of Australia's fastest growing markets. A major catalyst for the growth is the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol. As a result, up to A$4 billion of new investment will be required to fulfil the Australian Government's renewable energy target of an additional 9500GW hours of renewable energy being generated by 2010.
We recognise the need to capture this significant business opportunity in the global market for green power as government incentives for generators to provide a percentage of their energy to the market sourced from an ‘environmentally friendly’ source will continue to lead to new investment in the renewable energy market.
To date wind-produced energy has been the favoured alternative over solar or hydro. As the market develops so will the diversity of alternative sources of renewable energy production.
We have been involved in domestic and international renewable energy projects. We are well placed to advise all participants in the renewable energy market and have a proven track record in this emerging area.
