Gowling WLG has advised Pacific Green Technologies, Inc. ("Pacific Green") on the project financing of the company's 99.98MW battery energy storage system ("BESS") development at Richborough Energy Park, Kent.
Our Energy team advised Pacific Green over a senior debt facility agreement with merchant banking group Close Leasing Limited ("CLL")*, to provide a development loan to fund the construction of the site, which will be utilised in stages following the expenditure of the equity investment. The development loan will then be refinanced into a 10 year amortised term loan upon the start of commercial operations.
Gowling WLG also advised Pacific Green over a long-term Optimisation Agreement entered into between Pacific Green and Shell Energy Europe Limited ("Shell"), pursuant to which Shell will provide dispatch trading and optimisation services for the project and take up its capacity on a long-term basis.
The delivery of the transaction against a tight timeline and the complexities of dealing with lockdowns in the Chinese market was assured by our market-leading Energy team, drawing on specialists from a range of disciplines.
Partner Jonathan Brufal led on the deal and projects contract work, alongside partners Nath Curtis (project finance lead), Gareth Baker (corporate), Helen Emmerson (real estate), and Gus Wood (offtake). Principal associates Robert Currall (project contracts) and Siân Dewing (corporate) and associate Dan O'Donnell (finance) were the key associates in their respective disciplines.
Jonathan Brufal, said: "We are thrilled to have advised Pacific Green on this latest project financing and debt facility agreement, to further the development of the Richborough Energy Park site and its storage capability. Gowling WLG's Energy team is proud to continue supporting our clients in driving the UK's transition to low carbon energy systems in the move to Net Zero emissions. We look forward to working with the Pacific Green team on future green energy mandates."
Scott Poulter, Pacific Green's chief executive, said: "Project finance is a novel and developing funding structure in the battery energy storage sector. Gowling WLG's Energy team was instrumental in helping Pacific Green achieve financial close, and we look forward to working with them as we implement the remainder of our 1.1 GW pipeline in the UK."
Gowling WLG's multi-disciplinary Energy team has a market-leading reputation, operating seamlessly around the globe. This latest transaction solidifies the team's position at the forefront of the renewable energy sector, following a series of recent energy storage deals including advisory to HydrogenOne on its investments in green hydrogen developer HH2E, Bramble, Gen2, HiiRoc and NanoSun, and to Triple Point Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Company on investments into Harvest and Glasshouse. The team has also acted on large-scale battery storage investments for Island Green Power, Eelpower, and Vanadium Redox.