Current practice

Andrew Clark is a Partner in the Projects group in Freehills' Melbourne office. He specialises in the delivery of major projects, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, energy and transport.  

Andrew has experience in various jurisdictions including Australasia, Asia and Latin America.

Industry experience

Andrew has significant experience in:

• Government Procurement: both from a private sector and government perspective (Andrew is currently advising the Victorian Department of Infrastructure on a number of major rail infrastructure projects).
• Project Delivery: PPPs, EPC Contracts and all forms of design, construction contracts, operation and maintenance agreements and alliance agreements.
• Renewable Energy: particularly in the wind sector and has been at the forefront of wind farm developments in Australia.
• Power purchasing agreements, off-take agreements, connection and transmission agreements (gas, electricity and renewable energy), and
• Joint venture agreements, sale and purchase agreements.
  

Specific projects

• Project Delivery – Power, Energy and Renewable Energy: Challicum Hills, Portland and Clements Gap Wind Farms (Pacific Hydro Limited), Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm (Roaring 40s), Hallett Wind Farm (AGL), BassLink 600MW undersea transmission cable project (National Grid), Exmouth Gas Fired Power Station (ANZ), Canunda Wind Farm (Financiers), Emu Downs Wind Farm (ABN Amro), Powerco NZ and Transfield Alliance for the operation and maintenance of Powerco’s  NZ electricity and gas networks (Powerco), Century Zinc Mine (Pasminco), La Higuera and La Confluencia Hydro Power Projects in Chile (Pacific Hydro Limited), Playford B Power Station $150 million refurbishment (NRG).
• Project Delivery – Transport: $1.8 billion Melbourne City Link (Transurban), bids for the $1.5 billion Western Sydney Orbital, the $600 million Cross City Tunnel and the Lane Cove Tunnel tolling projects in Sydney and the $3.8 billion Mitcham Frankston Freeway Project in Victoria (Transurban), Regional Fast Rail Project, Victoria (Department of Infrastructure), Wodonga bypass Rail Project (Department of Infrastructure), Mildura Rail Project (Department of Infrastructure), Geelong Rail Access Improvement Project (Department of Infrastructure), Dandenong Rail Project (Department of Infrastructure).
• Project Delivery – other infrastructure: $1.5 billion Bell Bay Pulp Mill (Gunns), US$320 million Burrup Ammonia Production Plant (Financiers), Waste Water Treatment Plants at Echuca and Rochester (Earth Tech Engineering), Coode Island Terminal Facility (Marstel), various shopping centre developments (CML).
• Acquisitions/Joint Ventures: Bid for BHP’s PNG oil and gas assets (Santos), Bid for BHP’s power generation assets (National Power), US$75 million acquisition of the Chilean state owned CODELCO’s Coya and Pangal Hydro Power projects in Chile (Pacific Hydro Limited), acquisition of Shells’ Carnarvon Basin assets, Oil Search Limited’s 25 per cent interest in the Hides Gas Field in PNG and various interest in the Kipper (VIC/RL2) Gas Field in the Gippsland Basin (Santos), acquisition of the Playford A and Playford B power stations in South Australia (NRG), sale (and all associated project delivery and underground services agreements) of the Underground Gas Storage Project, including the South West Gas Pipeline, in Port Campbell to Texas Utilities (Victorian Government).
• PPAs and Connection/Transmission agreements: Century Zinc Mine (Pasminco), Challicum Hills and Portland Wind Farms (Pacific Hydro Limited), Pelican Point Power Station (Financiers), Bid for BHP’s Power Generation Assets (National Power), US$320 million Burrup Fertiliser Project (Financiers), Emu Downs Wind Farm (ABN Amro) Canunda Wind Farm (Financiers), US$260 million La Higuera Hydro Power project in Chile (Pacific Hydro Limited).

Professional background

Admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Andrew is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria and holds Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Melbourne.

Andrew has presented papers on contract and construction law at industry seminars, including the IES Seminar, "A Practical Guide to Effective Contract Management". He has also written a number of articles including Changes in the Wind published in "Project Finance International", September 2004 and Time for Australian Renewable Renewal published in "Financing Renewable Energy: Funding the Clean Alternative" 2006 (PFI/Thomson Financial).