Wind Energy

World’s Largest Wind Farm

Clifford Chance US LLP has advised the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office as 80 percent guarantor for a $1.3 billion loan finalized recently to help finance the construction of what will be the world’s largest wind farm – the Caithness Shepherds Flat project – an 845-megawatt facility located in eastern Oregon. Clifford Chance’s loan financing documentation work in support of DOE comes as part of a contract the firm won earlier this year to advise DOE on certain loan guarantee transactions.

Partner David Evans led a Clifford Chance U.S.-based Energy & Projects team that included associates Martin Hupka and Bryan Tollin. Partner Don Carden advised on tax-related matters.

Sponsors for the Shepherds Flat project are Caithness Energy, LLC and GE Energy Financial Services. The loan is funded by a group of 26 institutional investors and commercial banks led by Citibank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., RBS Securities and WestLB Securities, Inc.

Clifford Chance is one of the world’s leading law firms, helping clients achieve their goals by combining the highest global standards with local expertise. The firm has unrivaled scale and depth of legal resources across the four key markets of the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and focuses on the core areas of commercial activity: capital markets; corporate and M&A finance and banking; real estate; tax; pensions and employment; litigation and dispute resolution. Clifford Chance has 29 offices in 20 countries with 3,200 legal advisers and also operates a ‘best friends’ arrangement with AZB & Partners in India, Lakatos, Köves & Partners in Hungary and a co-operation agreement with Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm in Saudi Arabia.

mike.kachel@cliffordchance.com