Slaughter and May advised the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) on the Investment Contracts that were awarded on 23 April 2014 under the Final Investment Decision Enabling for Renewables programme. The award of Investment Contracts to eight new renewables projects (including offshore wind farms, coal to biomass conversions and a dedicated biomass plant with combined heat and power) represents the first step in the Government’s Electricity Market Reform (EMR) Contracts for Difference regime. Once completed, it is anticipated that the eight projects will deliver around 15TWh, or 5% of the UK’s total electricity generation.

The Investment Contracts are private law contracts between the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and developers of low carbon electricity projects, which set out the terms on which those projects will benefit from financial support. They have been designed to enable developers to take final investment decisions in the period before the Contracts for Difference regime is put in place. The Investment Contracts are based on the form of Contract for Difference being developed for EMR, on which Slaughter and May has also advised.

Slaughter and May continues to advise DECC in relation to other aspects of EMR.

CONTACTS

Investment Contracts - Corporate and Commercial: Jeff Triggs (partner), Oliver Broomfield (associate); Financing: Victoria Judd (associate)

Contracts for Difference - Corporate and Commercial: Tim Pharoah (partner), Yvonne Lee (associate), Tom Try (associate)

Other aspects of EMR - Financing: Paul Stacey (partner)