Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Nordic Investment Bank who, along with Luminor Bank, granted a €75m financing to Stelo Orienta SIA for the construction and operation of a photovoltaic (PV) plant in Latvia with a capacity of 148 MWp. The project benefits from European Union support under the InvestEU Fund, with the project sponsor being European Energy A/S.
The project will significantly increase Latvia’s solar generation capacity and will supply electricity for more than 40,000 households. With an energy system that currently still relies on fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, creating additional renewable energy capacity marks a vital step forwards in Latvia’s green transition.
The multidisciplinary, cross-border WFW team that acted as German and English counsel to the lenders was led by Hamburg Project & Structured Finance Partner Thomas Hollenhorst, working closely with Managing Associate Jakob Paluszkiewicz, Senior Associate Roman Schneider, Associate Stefan Riedmeyer and Transaction Lawyer Annika Schulz. English law finance expertise was provided by Frankfurt Partner Florian Kutzbach and Transaction Lawyer Alkistis Vallianatou. Hamburg Partner Carolin Woggon advised on corporate matters, with London Partner Emmanuel Ninos and Associate Jo Strachan providing English law advice.
Sorainen and Moalem Weitemeyer acted as Latvian and Danish legal counsel to the lenders respectively.
Thomas commented: “We are pleased to have advised the lenders on this landmark project. The plant will be the largest of its kind to date in Latvia and a perfect excellent example of how private financing combined with EU support can successfully drive the transition to renewable energy”.
