Eversheds advises Eco2 on sale of biomass plant

Law firm Eversheds advised Eco2 and Iceni Energy on the sale of the 44.2MW straw-powered biomass project in Snetterton, East Anglia.

The £160 million (€223 million) Snetterton Renewable Energy plant will be primarily fuelled using locally sourced straw and will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 82,000 homes. It will also result in an annual CO2 emissions reduction of approximately 300,000 tonnes.

The plant will result in an £11 million annual investment in the East Anglian agricultural economy from fuel supply contracts by sourcing all straw from within the region where possible. In addition, it is expected that the Snetterton Biomass Plant will provide up to 36 permanent jobs when operational, plus a further 50 jobs in fuel transportation.
Eversheds was instructed on all the corporate and project aspects of the transaction, advising the shareholders on the sale of the project.

Eversheds team leader Iwan Walters comments: 'As a firm we have advised on nearly all of the projects within the dedicated biomass capacity in the UK. It has been a pleasure to have worked with Eco2 and Iceni on this very important transaction for the dedicated biomass sector and we wish the project every success for the future.'

David Williams, CEO of Eco2, says: 'This is a significant deal for the UK biomass industry, and the second sale Eco2 has completed with BWSC PCL on a sustainable-scale straw-fired biomass plant. We have a longstanding relationship with BWSC, who we also worked with on the sale of Wales' first commercial-scale biomass plant in Port Talbot in 2006 – the Western Wood Energy Plant.'

 

SOURCE: Eversheds