On 9 November Green GECCO GmbH & Co. KG signed a contract with RWE Innogy to take over the Scottish onshore wind farm An Suidhe. The wind farm, which has an installed output of approx. 20 megawatts, is the first project to be launched under Green GECCO, a joint venture set up by 26 municipal utilities and RWE Innogy in April 2010.
Developed and built by RWE Innogy, An Suidhe is based in Argyll & Bute, on the Scottish west coast – one of the highest wind speed locations in Europe. The wind farm has 23 Enercon turbines which are all in the 800 or 900 kilowatt categories. Construction started in January 2009. The first turbines started in autumn this year and are already feeding electricity into the grid. Final completion of the wind farm is expected to take place at the end of the year, when the Green GECCO consortium will take over the facility as a turnkey project.
In April 2010, 26 municipal utilities and RWE Innogy joined forces under the Green GECCO joint venture and decided to push ahead with the development and implementation of projects in the production of renewable energy. The 26 municipal utilities and regional energy suppliers formed a dedicated holding company which owns 49 per cent of the Green GECCO joint venture, while the remaining 51 per cent of shares are held by RWE Innogy, the renewable energies company within the RWE Group.
Any of the the Green GECCO companies are welcome to propose renewable energy projects for inclusion in the joint venture portfolio. Moreover, RWE Innogy has committed itself to offering all new 100% RWE Innogy projects in the above mentioned areas in Germany to Green GECCO for the next two years. The inclusion of a new project requires 75% consent from the project partners.
By 2020 Green GECCO GmbH & Co. KG is planning to invest about a billion euros in the production of heat and electricity from renewable resources. Collaboration covers German and European projects in the areas of onshore wind power, biomass, geothermal energy, biogas, water and solar thermal energy.
A Linklaters team led by Christopher Bremme (Energy, Berlin) advised RWE Innogy GmbH comprehensively on this transaction.
The team also included Florian Reinkunz, Dr Tim Heitling (both Corporate/M&A, Berlin), Kirstin Schwedt (Litigation, Frankfurt), Parthiv Rishi, Rhiannon Waddel and Richard Barker (all Corporate/M&A, London).
The inhouse team of RWE Innogy was led by Gunnar Helberg and Julia Schirmer.
The Linklaters energy law team comprehensively advises and represents traditional and new market players, utilities and large-scale consumers in the fields of electricity, gas, oil, district heating and energy from renewable sources. We focus on privatisations, joint ventures, unbundling and public private partnerships, on energy trading, projects and project financing for new power stations, refineries and pipelines as well as on complex supply agreements and specific aspects of energy and competition law, including litigation and arbitration
