DLA Piper advises lender on financing of wind farm portfolio in Finland

DLA Piper has advised Kommunalkredit Austria AG as lender to Renewable Power Capital (RPC) in the financing of a portfolio of three on-shore wind farms with a total capacity of 154 MW in Finland, known as Merkkikallio, Puutikankangas and Rustari.

The projects will comprise 28 turbines in total, supplied by GE Energy (Finland) Oy, and mark a key milestone in the future of project financing for on-shore wind as a large-scale, fully merchant financing.

The DLA Piper team was led by partners Natasha Luther-Jones and Fredrik Lindblom in London, and partner Antti Niemi in Finland.

Commenting on the deal, Global Co-Chair of Energy and Natural Resources Natasha Luther-Jones, said: “We are delighted to have advised Kommunalkredit again, this time on RPC’s first project, and to be involved in construction financing of large-scale on-shore wind farms on a fully merchant basis.” Antti Niemi added “This is a significant deal in the Finnish and European renewable energy markets, and another great mandate for DLA Piper in the Nordics.”

Other team members included: of counsel Bruce Chen (Finance and Projects, London); senior associate Rob Cockburn (Finance and Projects, Leeds); senior associate Jennifer Keogh (Finance and Projects, Leeds); associate Charlotte Eliades (Finance and Projects, London); senior associate Vilma Nuutinen (Finance and Projects, Helsinki); and associate Tiia Mäki (Finance and Projects, Helsinki).