Mills Oakley advises on Australia’s largest solar energy project

National law firm Mills Oakley has advised ESCO Pacific (ESCO) and Palisade Investment Partners (Palisade) on the $225 million Ross River solar farm in Queensland. The project, which is being funded by Palisade, reached financial close last week. It is the largest solar project to date in Australia.

Mills Oakley advised ESCO and Palisade on a wide range of aspects of the project including power purchase negotiations, construction, operations and maintenance, planning and property.

Once constructed, the Ross River solar farm will consist of over 400,000 solar panels with a total capacity of 148MW, which will provide enough energy to power more than 65,000 homes. The project will also create hundreds of jobs during construction.

The Mills Oakley team was led by partner Luke Westmore and included Daniel Livingston (partner), Danny O’Brien (special counsel), Damiano Castelli (special counsel), James Williams (Senior Associate), Mary-Anne El-Hage (associate), Jordan Lyon (lawyer), Luke Duggan (lawyer) and Nicole Guglielmi (graduate).

Lead partner Luke Westmore congratulated the teams at ESCO and Palisade on reaching financial close for the project.

“This project, as the largest solar project to date in Australia, continues the resurgence of large scale renewable energy projects in Australia,” he said. “The construction of the Ross River project is another important step in the journey in achieving both the Commonwealth Renewable Energy Target and the Queensland Government’s target of sourcing 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.”

The Ross River project continues Mills Oakley’s active involvement in the renewable energy sector, including large scale solar, having most recently advised:

•   RATCH-Australia on the Mt Emerald wind farm (Queensland’s largest wind project)
•   Elecnor on the Barcaldine solar farm (Queensland’s largest operating solar project) and itssubsequent sale;
•   Elecnor as EPC Contractor on the Bungala solar project;
•   ARENA on the Oakley and Longreach solar projects; and
•   Windlab on the Kiata wind farm.ESCO and Palisade were advised by a team from King & Wood Mallesons on the financing aspects of the project, while the lenders (ANZ, Westpac and MUFG) were advised by a team from Herbert Smith Freehills, led by Gerard Pike.

   

   

  Media Contact:

  Renu Prasad
  Communications Manager
  T: + 61 2 8289 5820
  E: rprasad@millsoakley.com.au