Santander’s infrastructure principal finance and asset development unit has acquired Penmanshiel Wind Farm, a 28.7MW onshore wind project located in the Scottish Borders region. Leading international law firm Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Santander on all aspects of the deal, including corporate, tax, real estate and planning advice.

The 14 turbine wind farm was developed by the independent UK renewable energy company RES, which will continue its involvement in the project via an engineer, procure and construct (EPC) contract (also known as a ‘turnkey’ contract) and asset management agreement for the construction and operation of the wind farm. The asset management contract covers the day-to-day management of the wind farm once it is operational, including delivering and managing the community benefits package, which will provide funding to communities from five local councils.

Pre-construction work began on the facility in November and the wind farm is due to be completed in summer 2016.

The WFW London team was led by Energy & Projects partner Daisy East, assisted by Corporate partner Christina Howard, Tax partner Richard Stephens, and senior associates Charlotte Corble (Construction), Gabriel Davies (Planning & Project Development) and Victoria Barkas (Energy & Projects).

WFW London partner Daisy East, said: “We are pleased to have advised Santander, a leading investor in the renewables sector on this significant deal. The deal was completed within a challenging time scale and all parties worked well together to achieve it.”