Herbert Smith Freehills has advised BWSC Power Corporation Limited (BPCL), a joint venture between Danish power plant developer BWSC and Danish fund Copenhagen Infrastructure I (CII), in relation to the £170 million acquisition and development of the 44.2MW straw fuelled Snetterton biomass plant in Norfolk, UK.

The Plant, previously owned by Eco2 & Iceni JV Limited, will burn primarily straw to generate 44.2MW of renewable electrical energy, enough to meet the annual electricity consumption of 82,000 households. Snetterton Biomass Plant will cut emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 300,000 tonnes every year.
CII is Denmark's largest private equity fund dedicated to infrastructure assets with DKK 6 billion (over €800 million) to invest.  BWSC is a world-leading provider and operator of turnkey biomass power plants, and will construct and operate the Snetterton Plant for BPCL.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by corporate partner Sarah Pollock and associates Ian Williams and Hannah Roscoe. Tim Healey, senior associate in the construction team, led the negotiation of the EPC and O&M contracts.

Sarah Pollock commented: "This acquisition is strategically important for our client BPCL and we are delighted to assist them with this second deal in around 12 months. We have seen a surge of activity in the renewables market, particularly overseas investors, in light of the future closure of the Renewables Obligation regime to new capacity. We look forward to working with our client on future mandates."

Last year, the firm advised CII (managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners) and BWSC on the acquisition and development of the £160 million greenfield Brigg straw-fired biomass power plant project. This included advising on the joint venture between CII and BWSC to develop multiple biomass power plants in the UK and the acquisition of 100% of Eco2 North Lincs Limited (the SPV holding the rights to the Brigg power plant).  The Snetterton acquisition is the second investment made by this joint venture.