Law firms Kingsley Napley and CMS have advised Harwell Science and Innovation Campus on the development of a new electricity smartgrid which is to be installed at the 700-acre site in Oxford and operated by SNRG.
The Harwell campus is home to over 250 research and technology companies and more than 7000 people who work across a range of scientific and technological sectors, including space, clean energy, life sciences and computing. The installation of smartgrid technologies will ensure efficient use of available network capacity, while also minimising costs for occupiers and ensuring greater resilience and reliability.
Kingsley Napley and CMS have collaborated on the energy, real estate and construction-related legal requirements of the project to be installed and operated over the next 25 years. This covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of apparatus including the smart “private wire” network, renewable energy generation facilities and battery storage assets, together with advice on important regulatory considerations for structuring and progressing the project.
The multi-disciplinary Kingsley Napley team was led by construction partner Peter Metcalfe alongside Matthew Copeland and Ian Silverblatt. CMS advised Harwell on all energy elements of the transaction and the CMS team was led by energy and climate change partner Matthew Brown alongside James Wright and Megan Cunningham.
Karen Maher, General Counsel of Harwell said "We are very pleased to have signed this transformative deal for Harwell Campus. We look forward to working closely with SNRG to deliver greener, more efficient, and cost-effective power to our campus community. Thanks to both Kingsley Napley and CMS who worked hard to complete this bespoke transaction for us."
Peter Metcalfe said "we would like to congratulate Harwell on closing the SmartGrid North transaction. It has been a great pleasure collaborating with our colleagues at CMS on this ground breaking energy transaction and we wish both Harwell and SNRG the very best of success, both during the construction phase and beyond."
Matthew Brown said "We are delighted to have, along with the team at Kingsley Napley, advised Harwell on this innovative project to provide the campus with the benefits of a scalable onsite smartgrid that integrates renewable generation and flexible assets. We wish Harwell and SNRG every success going forward with this pioneering initiative."
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