David O'Donovan

Associate

London

David advises clients on a range of domestic and international transactions in the energy sector.

David's experience primarily includes renewable energy projects (onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, energy-from-waste and green hydrogen) with a particular focus on M&A, joint ventures and project development. He also has experience advising on governance, regulatory and ESG-related matters.

    • Advising Morrison on the English law aspects of its joint venture with EDF for the development of public charging solutions for electric vehicles in France.
    • Advising Kyuden International Corporation and Development Bank of Japan Inc. on the acquisition of minority interests in Viridor Energy, one of the largest waste treatment and power generation companies in the UK with 11 energy-from-waste facilities in operation, and related joint venture arrangements with Equitix.
    • Advising a Direct Investment Fund as bidder on the proposed acquisition of an interest in the Walney Extension offshore wind farm.
    • Advising the runner-up bidder on its participation in a competitive auction to acquire projects and associated rights comprising the Norfolk Wind Zone (with a total expected capacity of 4.2 GW) from Vattenfall.
    • Advising Ørsted on the disposal of its remaining 25% interest in the London Array offshore wind farm to funds managed by Schroders Greencoat.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through its Growth Markets Fund II, on its joint venture with Ignitis Renewables to collaborate exclusively on offshore wind opportunities in Estonia and Latvia. The joint venture was the winning bidder in the Liivi 1 and Liivi 2 tenders, the first offshore wind tenders in Estonia, with a combined expected capacity of 1.5 GW.
    • Advising a leading renewable energy developer on its participation in a competitive auction and subsequent negotiations concerning the proposed acquisition of an interest in a global floating offshore wind developer.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through its ETF Fund, on its participation in the Amnah consortium (and related joint venture arrangements) which was successful in the inaugural green hydrogen auction in Oman.
    • Advising Glennmont Partners, through its Clean Energy Fund IV, on an innovative development debt financing for 18GW of floating offshore wind projects being developed by Hexicon.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, as mezzanine lender, in relation to a debt restructuring process concerning the Veja Mate offshore wind farm.
    • Advising a Zambian NGO on the expansion of its innovative rotational grazing programme through a carbon credits-based development finance arrangement with a large multinational company.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through its New Markets Fund, on joint venture arrangements in relation to the La Gan offshore wind farm in Vietnam.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on its partnership with Amberside Energy for the development of over 2 GW of solar PV, battery storage and solar PV with co-located battery storage projects in the UK.
    • Advising a global technology major as purchaser on EU and UK energy policy in the context of revenue caps or profit levies on low-carbon generators.
    • Advising a major infrastructure fund on its participation in a joint venture for the development of an offshore wind project in Bulgaria.
    • Advising a major infrastructure fund on its participation with a developer in Scotland to develop a synchronous condenser, situated at the onshore substation of an offshore wind farm off the coast of Scotland which will help to solve insufficient Short Circuit Levels on the electricity system and provide a "green" form of inertia to help keep the electricity system stable, such as after a rare trip at a large power station.
    • Advising Octopus Energy Generation, one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy with £4.4bn of green energy assets under management, on its entrance into the Italian green power market through an investment in solar and wind farm developer Nexta Capital Partners.
    • Advising a leading renewable energy developer on the sale of a 49% stake in three development stage offshore wind projects in Sweden to Ingka Investments. The projects – Galatea-Galene, located off the coast of Halland, Triton, located off the coast of Skåne and Aurora, located off the coast of Gotland and Öland – have the potential to reach an aggregate installed capacity of 9 GW and to produce up to 38 TWh combined, once operational, corresponding to more than 25% of the electricity consumed in Sweden in 2021.
    • Advising Sustainable Development Capital LLP on its agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of United Renewable Energy Limited (‘UURE’) from United Utilities Group for approximately £100 million. UURE is the owner of a portfolio of 70 operational renewable energy assets comprising (i) ground mounted, rooftop and floating solar projects, (ii) onshore wind, and (iii) a hydro-electric project which provide renewable energy generated on-site directly to the end-user, United Utilities Water Limited, to provide power to critical water infrastructure.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) on its partnership with Bute Energy (Bute). As part of the transaction, CIP’s flagship fund Copenhagen Infrastructure IV K/S will invest in Bute’s portfolio of onshore wind farms and solar PV projects, some with co-located battery energy storage systems, under development in Wales, UK. The Bute portfolio consists of projects at various stages of development and is expected to have a total installed capacity of over 2GW by 2030.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on the sale of 100% of its 49% interest in a joint venture with Falck Renewables S.p.A. comprising an operational onshore wind portfolio in Scotland and Wales to Infrastructure Investment Fund, an infrastructure fund advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
    • Advising the lenders and hedge providers on the $1.6 billion project financing of the 298MW Zhong Neng offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
    • Advising AIP Management on the sale of PKA’s 25% stake in the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm to Greencoat for approximately £400 million.
    • Advising BlackRock’s Global Renewable Power platform on its membership of the NextGen consortium together with Quaybridge Scotland Ltd, Parkwind NV, Maple Power Ltd and Sumitomo Corporation. The NextGen consortium has participated in the Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing process.
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through its New Markets Fund, on a joint venture with Eni to collaborate in connection with the anticipated allocation of offshore wind areas in Poland.
    • Advising a lending syndicate consisting of HSBC, Investec, ING and Intesa Sanpaolo on SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc’s (SEEIT) £145 million secured multicurrency revolving credit facility, which also included an uncommitted accordion of £55 million.
    • Advising Ørsted Onshore A/S on its agreement to acquire Brookfield Renewable’s Irish and UK onshore wind business. The agreement is based on an enterprise valuation of EUR 571 million as of 31 December 2020 (subject to customary adjustments) and marks Ørsted’s entry into the European onshore market. With the acquisition, Ørsted acquired one of Europe’s leading integrated renewable energy platforms, including 389MW under construction and in operation, 149MW in advanced development and more than a 1 GW development pipeline in Ireland and the UK.
    • Advising Hornsea 1 Limited, a joint venture owned between Ørsted (50%) and Global Infrastructure Partners (50%), on its £1.175 billion sale of its transmission assets to Diamond Transmission Partners Hornsea One Limited. DTP Hornsea One is a partnership between Diamond Transmission Corporation Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation) and Chubu Electric Power Company Netherlands B.V. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.).
    • Advising Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on the sale of its 35% equity interest in the Beatrice offshore wind farm to The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) and to funds managed by Equitix Management Limited (Equitix).
    • Advising NextEnergy on the EPC and O&M arrangements in relation to the development of a UK-based solar portfolio on sites owned by a major water utility company.
    • Advising smart city technology company Connexin on the raising of an initial commitment of up to £80 million in funding from Whitehelm Capital.
    • Advising Conrad Energy on the acquisition of various projects as part of the expansion of its UK battery and gas-fired peaking plant portfolios.