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Portrait ofPhilip Duffield

Philip Duffield

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English

Philip Duffield is a partner in the Energy, Projects & Construction group. He specialises in advising sponsors, lenders and the public sector on the construction, operation, commercial and financing aspects of projects in the UK and worldwide.

Philip’s practice covers a wide range of sectors including renewable energy, waste, transport, health, defence and education. CMS is recognised as a market leader in both the Energy and Infrastructure & Project Finance sectors in the UK, and is top ranked in Legal 500 in both practice areas. He advises on both new (primary) projects and also the acquisition and disposal or projects in the secondary market.

Many of the transactions on which Philip has advised have been based on a PPP model and/or have successfully secured project-finance debt. He has extensive knowledge of what is needed to make projects bankable, both in terms of government-backed projects and also purely commercial projects.  

Many of the projects Philip has advised on have been innovatively structured or financed. His clients include the public sector, construction contractors, developers, energy companies, infra funds, pension funds, banks and equity investors. 

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Relevant experience

  • Offshore Wind: RWE and EDP Renováveis on various contracts for the development of their Galloper (500MW UK Round 3) and Moray Firth (1.5GW UK Round 3) offshore wind farm projects; and National Grid and John Laing on their bids for numerous OFTO (offshore transmission owner) projects.
  • Onshore Wind: various clients including Aviva Investors, EDF Energy Renewables, Octopus, The Renewable Infrastructure Group, Hermes and Gravis Capital Partners on the development, acquisition and project-financing of various onshore wind projects in the UK.
  • Solar: a number of clients including BBIP, Nord/LB, Low Carbon, on the development, acquisition and project-financing of portfolios of solar PV parks in the UK, including on construction, O&M, power purchase and grid connection arrangements.
  • Biomass and Energy-from-Waste:  Equitix as sponsor for a new biomass (waste wood) CHP plant in Sheffield; Aviva Investors as funder for a new biomass CHP energy centre for Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at Addenbrookes Hospital; Merchant Place Corporate Finance on structuring and contracts for an energy-from-straw plant in South Wales; and Chinook Energy, Enver Energy, Equitix and SITA on other ongoing projects and matters.
  • Renewable Power Purchase: various clients (including McDonald’s Restaurants) on back-to-back power purchase agreements in the UK and associated flexible electricity-supply terms.
  • Other Energy: various other projects in the energy sector, including in cutting edge areas such as commercial battery storage, smart metering, reserve (peaking) power and carbon capture and storage.
  • Health: IFC on the procurement of Shillong Medical College and Hospital, the first PPP medical college project in India; and Clinicenta on its successful bids for the North London and GC9 independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) projects, the latter being the only ISTC scheme to be project-financed.
  • Transport: a consortium comprising Vinci, Alstom, Meridiam, OFI and Keolis in relation to the Nottingham Tram Phase 2 PPP project, to upgrade and extend the existing tram system in Nottingham; Société Générale as lenders’ agent in relation to the RAV light rail project in Vancouver, Canada; and IFC on the procurement of the Milot-Morine PPP road project in Albania.
  • Defence: Babcock as training and FM subcontractor for the Royal School of Military Engineering project in the UK to provide accommodation and training to the Ministry of Defence.
  • Secondary Markets: various clients in relation to due diligence for the acquisition or disposal of portfolios of infrastructure assets (particularly solar, onshore wind, PFI and PPP projects).
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Education

  • 2002 – LPC, College of Law, London
  • 2000 – PGDL, BPP Law School, London, Oxford
  • 1999 – B.A. Modern History, University of Oxford, Oxford
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Feed

22/01/2024
CMS advises National Grid and Scottish Power on Eastern Green Link 1
International law firm CMS has advised National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (NGET) and SP Transmission plc (SPT) on the Eastern Green Link 1 project (EGL1). NGET owns and maintains the high-voltage...
29/09/2022
CMS closes series of high-profile battery storage deals
International law firm CMS has closed five significant battery storage deals in recent months, reinforcing the firm’s market-leading position in this space.  These in­clude: Ad­vising Zenobē on two...
28/06/2022
CMS advises on significant UK battery storage financing
International law firm CMS has advised Harmony Energy Income Trust plc (the “Company”), an externally managed company that invests in energy storage assets in Great Britain, in relation to a £60,000,000...
13/10/2021
CMS advises on project financing of significant UK utility-scale solar...
International law firm CMS has advised Rabobank in relation to the project financing of a subsidy-free utility-scale solar PV project in the UK, developed by:Cero Generation (Cero), a portfolio company...
12/07/2021
CMS advises battery storage company Zenobē on increased funding from Santander...
International law firm CMS has advised Zenobē, one of the UK’s leading owners and operators of battery storage, in relation to the commercial contracts for its flagship 100MW/107MWh battery at Capenhurst...
30/01/2019
The zero-subsidy renewables opportunity
The landscape for investments in renewable energy projects is undergoing a period of significant change. Many European governments are reducing the level of support and subsidies for re­new­able en­ergy...
21/11/2018
Liquidated damages and renewables projects
A Commercial Court decision earlier this month has considered a number of significant issues surrounding the application of liquidated damages for delay in a renewables context. In addition to upholding...
18/07/2018
Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations
On 15 April 2018, the Renewable Transport Fuels and Greenhouse Emissions Regulations 2018 (the “Reg­u­la­tions”) came into force, amending the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007 (the “RTFO”)...
12/03/2018
Storage and Renewables: the next frontier
CMS has today published a guide to co-locating energy storage with renewables. Storage has been the “hot” topic in the electricity industry in recent years. There is huge potential for co-locating...
09/03/2018
Storage and Renewables: The next frontier
Storage has been the “hot” topic in the electricity industry in recent years. There is huge potential for co-locating storage with renewables, with more than 30GW of wind and solar capacity in the...
17/10/2017
Low-cost, low-carbon solutions: opportunities for the UK energy sector...
On Friday 13 October, the National Infrastructure Commission (“NIC”) published its draft National Infrastructure Assessment (“NIA”) for 2018 for public consultation. The report is wide-ranging...
01/03/2017
CMS advises Low Carbon on its joint venture with VPI Immingham in connection...
CMS has advised Low Carbon on its joint venture with VPI Immingham, owner of one of the largest combined heat and power plants in Europe and part of the Vitol Group, to fund early stage energy storage...