Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Siemens Bank and Deutsche Bank (as financiers) and Eddystone Financial Services (as Agent and Security Trustee), on the project financing of the Merredin Solar Farm, located in the Central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.
The solar farm commenced its operation in August 2020 and comprises approximately 355,000 solar panels with a total installed solar capacity of 132MWdc/100MWac. Herbert Smith Freehills also advised Risen Energy (Australia), the previous owner of the solar farm, on its entry into a 10-year renewable power purchase agreement with BHP and a second offtake agreement with Sunshot Energy.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Melbourne partner Gerard Pike, with support from senior associate Lisa Hamilton and solicitors Tia Liu and Sylvia Tran.
Gerard Pike commented: "We are pleased to have helped the Siemens Bank, Deutsche Bank and Eddystone complete the project financing of Merredin Solar, the largest operating solar farm in Western Australia and Sun Energy's first major investment in Australia."
With this deal, Herbert Smith Freehills continues to demonstrate its leadership in the financing of Australia's large scale energy transition assets having also recently advised on:
- the refinancing of the FRV's Moree Solar Farm in New South Wales;
- several Green Loan facilities for ACEN Australia; and
- the project financing of Edify Energy's large-scale Riverina Battery Energy Storage System
