Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Beijing Jingneng Clean Energy (Australia) Holding Pty Ltd (BJCE Australia) on its acquisition of a 31-turbine wind farm located near Biala, a town approximately 14.5 km to the south west of Crookwell within the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales.
The wind farm will have an installed capacity of about 100MW, producing enough electricity for approximately 40,000 homes on an average day of wind. BJCE Australia intends to begin construction in mid-2018. BJCE Australia is a subsidiary of Beijing Jingneng Clean Energy Co., Limited which owns and operates a 3.3GW portfolio of renewable projects in China where it is the leading supplier of wind power.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised BJCE on the acquisition, including providing specialised advices on corporate, foreign investment approval, planning, property and stamp duty matters.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Partners Gerard Pike and Belinda Fan, and supported by Special Counsel Kirstie Richards, Senior Associate Japonica Sheridan and Solicitors Sarah Oh and Christina Wheeler.
Belinda Fan said, “This acquisition follows neatly on BJCE Australia’s investment in the Gullen Range wind farm and Gullen solar farm. We were delighted to have advised BJCE Australia on this important transaction and congratulate the team on a deal well done.”
This transaction reinforces the strength of our offering in the renewables sector and is another example of the work of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading full service renewables team. We have recently advised on a number of other significant transactions in the Australian renewable energy industry, including:
- Nexif Energy on the development of the $300 million first stage of the Lincoln Gap wind farm in South Australia;
- Eurus and Windlab on Kennedy Energy Park 15MW(AC) solar array, 43.2MW(AC) and 2MW(AC) of Li Ion battery storage provided by Tesla in central North Queensland; and
- National Australia Bank Limited and Westpac Banking Corporation on the project financing for Emerald Solar Park in Central Queensland.