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Acciona advised on colossal waste-to-energy project
Allens has advised Acciona on the development and financing of the East Rockingham Waste to energy facility (East Rockingham WtE Facility), in Western Australia which has reached financial close.
Tony Zhang
Firm: Allens (Acciona)
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Deal: Allens advised Acciona Concesiones S.L (ACCIONA) on its investment in the project which is part of the consortium of equity investors, including John Laing and Hitachi Zosen Inova.
A separate team at Allens advised the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) on the project financing for the development of the East Rockingham WtE Facility.
Value: $511 million.
Area: Energy.
Key players: The Allens’ team was led by partners David Donnelly and John Greig with senior associates Magda Kucharska, Kylie Wilkie, Daniel Abadee and associates James Moffat and Helen Santamaria.
Deal significance: Partner Rob Watt, who led the team on advising CEFC and ARENA commented: “We were delighted to advise CEFC and ARENA on the funding of this groundbreaking project. Effective waste management is a critical part of Australia’s transition to a lower emissions future, and this demonstrates waste-to-energy as a viable solution.”
The $511 million project is the second commercial scale waste-to-energy facility in Australia, following the Kwinana waste-to-energy facility, which reached financial close in 2018.
Once completed, the East Rockingham WtE Facility will convert 300,000 tonnes per year of municipal, commercial and industrial waste as well as 30,000 tonnes of biosolids into enough electricity to supply more than 36,000 homes.
“This transaction is a further step forward for this emerging asset class, which has a role to play in the overall solution to the country’s waste crisis,” Mr Donnelly said.
“Credit to the many stakeholders involved in this project, for bringing together a world-class solution for the East Rockingham area.”
The project will be delivered over a 35-month contract period, commencing in January 2020.
Allens’ becomes the third firm advising on this major project in Western Australia. Previously K&L Gates advised Acciona as well on its development of the East Rockingham facility while Herbert Smith Freehills advised Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) on a 40 per cent investment stake in the project.
