DLA Piper has acted for a European investor consortium advised by Credit Suisse Energy Infrastructure Partners AG on all aspects of a 40 per cent investment into the Fosen Vind Wind Project in Norway (1 GW) - a project which is set to create the largest on-shore wind farm in Europe and one of the largest wind farms in the world. The transaction spanned a period of 12 months and at all stages encompassed work streams from DLA Piper's integrated corporate, energy regulatory, real estate, projects, due diligence and debt financing practice teams across six jurisdictions.

Construction will commence in Q2 2016 and commissioning will be completed in 2020. The wind power project is located in an area along the coast of Central Norway, on the Fosen peninsula. A key feature is that the area provides some of the best conditions for renewable energy production from wind in Europe. The total installed capacity of 1000 MW/1 GW is more than the current installed capacity of wind power in Norway.

Statkraft - the Norwegian state owned hydropower company and Europe's largest generator of renewable energy - and local Norwegian utility TrønderEnergi provided the remaining funds for the project.

The project team was led by Fredrik Lindblom, partner and Head of the Finance & Projects Group in DLA Piper's Oslo office including being in charge of Debt Finance, with the following DLA Piper Partners in charge of the following main work streams: Anders Lenborg (Oslo), energy and energy regulatory Natasha Luther-Jones (Leeds/London), turbine supply and management services contracts, Magnus Lutnæs (Oslo), real estate and construction contracts, Kaare Oftedal (Oslo), corporate.

"The Fosen Vind Wind Project is one of the most important industrial developments in Norway in many years and signifies the start of a new era in Norwegian energy history," explained Fredrik Lindblom - the lead DLA Piper partner and head of the Finance & Projects Group in DLA Piper's Oslo office.

In addition to the Fosen Vind Wind Project,  DLA Piper also recently closed the project of the Cloghboola operational wind farm in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland owned by Gaelectric, acting for Nord LB and Hastings' (who advised funds).  The financing was provided by way of shorter term tranched bank debt from Nord LB and a longer term note of 19.5 year by the funds.  The innovative structuring of the different tranches of bank debt and the note, each with different maturities, was based on a structure seen in the US market. This is the first time that this financing structure has been used to fund a European renewables transaction. The project also involved a supplier-lite PPA structure.

Natasha Luther-Jones, Energy partner and lead partner for DLA Piper on the Cloghboola wind farm project said: "Both projects were innovative in their own right with Fosen Vind having an impact on the energy market across Europe and Cloghboola on how on-shore wind projects can be financed in Europe in the future."