With ongoing support from CMS, NeuConnect Britain Limited and NeuConnect Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG (together NeuConnect) have achieved financial close on their £2.4bn (EUR 2.8bn) electricity interconnector project with a consortium of over 20 national and international banks and financial institutions.
The NeuConnect project, which links British and German energy markets for the first time, aims to deliver 1.4GW of electricity interconnection capacity over a 725km high-voltage direct current link between GB and Germany from 2028. Among the key anticipated benefits of the project is its potential to contribute to the realisation of renewable energy and decarbonisation policies in Europe and the UK, in particular by helping to optimise usage of offshore wind assets in Germany and GB where there are differences in wind conditions.
Having acted as project counsel since 2017, CMS has continued to work closely with NeuConnect through this vital phase, including providing due diligence reporting to lenders and advising on various arrangements with respect to matters including construction, land rights, permits, grid connection and corporate structure.
The CMS team, consisting of CMS UK, CMS Germany and CMS Netherlands, was led by Munir Hassan, with support from Paul Smith, Rob Gray, Chris McGarvey, Sam Rylance, Vini Cowden, James Wright, Ketna Tanna, Chelsey Ross, Alistair McGrigor, Josh Atallah, Eleanor Lane and Juliet Stradling (EPC); Robin Hutchison, Rob Garden and Kathryn Nolin (Planning); Leilah Rawle and Emma Forbes-Stocken (Real Estate); Michael Carroll and Konrad Rawicz (Corporate); Jenny Allan, Jo Dance and Caroline Barr (Finance) (all CMS UK); Holger Kraft, Matthias Sethmann, Luise Pelzer, Stefan Kühl (Corporate), Fritz Hammerstein, Sebastian Belz, Jan Gröschel (Public Law), Hans Fabian Kiderlen, Johannes Bescher, Cihan Cömert, Christopher Schmeckel (Real Estate), Olaf Thießen (Tax) and Kerstin Block (Finance) (all CMS Germany); and Cecilia van der Weijden (Corporate) and Alexander IJkelenstam (Public Law) (both CMS Netherlands).
