A cross-border team from Norton Rose Fulbright has advised an international consortium comprised of Enel Green Power and Dutch Infrastructure Fund (DIF) on the purchase of the 275 MW Bungala Solar PV project from local developer Reach Solar Energy. The project is currently the largest ready-to-build solar PV project in Australia.
Italian power company Enel, via its renewable energy subsidiary Enel Green Power S.p.A (EGP), has teamed up with leading global infrastructure investor DIF on a project that will be the largest solar project in Australia. Construction work on the first 137.5 MW of the project is expected to start by mid-2017 with the overall 275 MW project becoming fully operational by the third quarter of 2018.
The Bungala Solar project is designed to generate around 570 GWh a year, equivalent to the consumption needs of approximately 82,000 Australian households, avoiding the emission of about 520,000 tonnes of CO2.
Norton Rose Fulbright global head of energy Simon Currie commented:
“South Australia is viewed as a lab for the transformation of the energy sector. Bungala is a world class solar PV project which will add much needed capacity to the South Australian electricity system and bring new industry to the Port Augusta region. Enel and DIF are major global players and this investment demonstrates the international attractiveness of the opportunities in South Australia and the Australian energy market.”
The Norton Rose Fulbright team spanned our Sydney, Melbourne, Milan and Amsterdam offices and was led by Simon Currie, global head of energy, supported by lead special counsel Raymond Lou. The team included partners Noni Shannon, Emanuel Confos and Justin Lucas; senior associates Kelly Davies, Steven Choi, Jacqueline Plant, Claire Whitney and Nicole Bury; associates Alicia Snijders, Sonali Seneviratne, Lana Tian, Tom Bramah and Ben Carrozzi; and lawyers Mehere Maladina and Sorrel Palmer. Partners Arturo Sferruzza (Milan) and Wouter Hertzberger (Amsterdam) also advised on the deal. We worked closely with the senior in-house counsel from Enel, Edgar Miller and Christina Souto Padron.
Our team is currently working on over 20 large scale solar projects across Australia. Our recent role advising ARENA on the funding of the 46.5MW Manildra Solar Farm (NSW) followed our role advising Wirsol Energy Ltd on the acquisition and financing of the 57.5MW Whitsunday project (Queensland), the 57.5MW Hamilton project (Queensland), and the 50MW Gannawarra project (Victoria) – the latter two achieving financial close in March, 2017.
