Baker & McKenzie has advised Neoen, a leading French renewable energy company, on debt financing for the 100MW first stage of its Hornsdale Wind Farm project near Jamestown in South Australia.

The debt financing comprises a long-term senior debt facility from Germany’s KFW Ipex-Bank and France’s Societe Generale, with a smaller portion of junior debt from Investec. The deal is the first of the larger wind projects in Australia under the recent ACT 200MW Wind Auction and it is one of a few renewables projects in Australia to benefit from long-term debt financing.

Baker & McKenzie lead partner, Paul Curnow commented: “The financing of this project marks the start of what we expect to be an increasingly busy renewables market. As the second round of the ACT wind auction has just opened and other States are considering similar approaches, it will be interesting to see how soon retailers like Origin and AGL come back into the PPA market, particularly now that there is competition from governments for the best projects."

Partner, Sean Rush commented: "The financing of stage 1 of the Hornsdale Wind Farm highlights how projects like the ACT large-scale wind auction are going to have an impact on the way in which wind and solar projects are financed.  The fact that the project has a long-term 20 year offtake with the ACT Government was key to securing the longer term debt."

The Baker & McKenzie team was led by partners, Paul Curnow and Sean Rush who were supported by partners Kate Jefferson, Bryan Paisley, John Walker and Amrit MacIntyre, special counsel Kate Phillips and Teresa Ientile, and senior associates Robyn Farrell and David Cooper.

Baker & McKenzie also advised Neoen on their initial acquisition of Hornsdale Wind Farm from Investec in 2014, and most recently, on the acquisition and debt financing of the DeGrussa Solar Farm in Western Australia.