Shepherd and Wedderburn act for Masdar in purchasing stake in Hywind floating offshore windfarm

Shepherd and Wedderburn has acted alongside lead adviser, Allen & Overy, for Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, Masdar, in a deal that sees Masdar acquire a 25% stake in Statoil’s Hywind Scotland floating offshore windfarm. 

The 30MW wind farm, to be located off Scotland’s east coast, about 15 miles from Peterhead, could eventually power 20,000 households. Commercial production is expected to commence in late 2017. 

The project aims to take advantage of Scotland’s huge offshore wind resource by operating in waters exceeding 100m depth, demonstrating cost efficient and low risk solutions for commercial scale parks. 

The transaction forges a strategic alliance between Masdar and Norwegian oil giant, Statoil. Under the transaction, Statoil and Masdar will share the development risk, with Masdar covering 25% of previous and future project costs. Statoil will continue to hold a 75% share in Hywind Scotland.

Acting for Masdar, alongside lawyers from Allen & Overy, Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Clean Energy team advised on issues relating to grid connection contracts, regulatory aspects of the project, as well as property and planning due diligence. The Shepherd and Wedderburn team was led by energy real estate partner Colin Robertson and consenting/environmental partner Scott McCallum, with specialist grid/regulatory input from partner Liz McRobb. 

Clare Foster, Partner Head of Clean Energy, and who led the Shepherd and Wedderburn team said: “Our 90-strong renewable energy team has both the scale and depth of knowledge to advise on ground-breaking projects of this complexity. It is fantastic that our lawyers have once more been given the opportunity to work on a project that puts Scotland at the forefront of next generation wind technologies.”