Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Canadian Solar on the proposed investment by investment manager Foresight Group in a portfolio of three solar farms in Queensland.

The portfolio comprises the 17MW Longreach project, the 30MW Oakey 1 project and the 70MW Oakey 2 Project. The Longreach and Oakey 1 Projects are currently under construction and are expected to be connected to the grid during the course of 2018.

The deal, which was signed on 12 October, is subject to satisfaction of certain conditions and is scheduled to complete later this year. Canadian Solar will retain a short term equity interest in both the Longreach and Oakey 1 Projects.

Norton Rose Fulbright global head of energy Simon Currie commented:

"Canadian Solar is a leading global player in the solar industry, They were ranked in the top 3 for solar module production in 2016 and have a strong development pipeline in Australia and several other markets. Partnering with strong capital providers such as Foresight is a model which we expect to become prevalent in Australia”

Special counsel Chris Mitchell, who led the proposed investment for Canadian Solar, commented:

“It was a pleasure to assist Canadian Solar with achieving this milestone for this portfolio of solar projects. The transaction is further evidence of the attractiveness of high quality Australian renewable energy projects for foreign investors.”

The team advising Canadian Solar was led by Simon Currie and Chris Mitchell, supported by special consultant Kelly Davies (Projects), special counsel Claire Forster (Regulatory), associates Joanne Zhou (Projects) and Chanel Mercurio (Corporate) and lawyer Emile Goldman. Our team is currently working on over 30 large scale solar projects across Australia. We recently advised international solar energy firm Wirsol Energy on its acquisition of the 110MW Wemen sun farm near Mildura, Victoria. Earlier this year we advised a fund managed by BlackRock on the acquisition of a majority interest in a portfolio of two large scale solar PV projects in Queensland and Wirsol Energy on the acquisition and project financing of a portfolio of three large scale solar PV projects in Queensland and Victoria – the first portfolio acquisition and financing of utility scale solar PV in Australia and the first financing for solar PV with merchant exposure and long term debt from the local market.