Herbert Smith Freehills has acted for Pacific Hydro on the A$115 million project financing for Haughton Solar Farm (Stage 1) in Queensland. The financiers to the project financing were the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation.
Haughton Solar Farm (Stage 1) is a 100MW solar farm to be developed in Upper Haughton, approximately 17 km northwest of the township of Clare and 37 km southwest of the township of Ayr, in North Queensland. It is anticipated that the solar farm will commence commercial operations by early to mid-2019, and will be Pacific Hydro’s first large-scale solar project in Australia.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partners Gerard Pike and Kris Percy with assistance from senior associate Nadine Kilpatrick and solicitors Josh Attard and Erin MacMullin.
The financial adviser to Pacific Hydro was Planum Partners. Legal counsel to the financiers was Gilbert + Tobin. RCR O’Donnell Griffin Pty Ltd, was appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor and the operation and maintenance contractor for the solar farm.
Herbert Smith Freehills partner Gerard Pike said, “The HSF team really enjoyed working collaboratively with Pacific Hydro on the offtake, procurement and project financing of its first large-scale solar project in Australia.”
“It is great to see a 100MW large-scale solar project in Queensland achieve financial close without any state or federal government finance, funding or offtake support and we look forward to Pacific Hydro and RCR achieving completion as quickly and smoothly as possible,” Mr Pike said.
This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work advising on large-scale solar projects in Australia, including having recently advised in relation to the Kiamal Solar Farm in Victoria, the Lilyvale, Darling Downs and Aldoga Solar projects in Queensland and the Beryl Solar Farm in New South Wales.