The firm has been working with the company since 2019
Tompkins Wake has confirmed its role in the recent signing of a unique deal involving a series of solar projects to be developed by Far North Solar Farm (FNSF).
The $78m deal, which will see FNSF utilising a facility to link five sites to the national grid, will bolster the company’s existing 11-site portfolio and enable it to produce up to 1.5GW of new clean electricity – about 15% of the country’s current daytime electricity, Tompkins Wake said. As a result, power derived from hydro lakes can be reserved for evening peak demand.
New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) and Transpower were at the other end of the deal, which has been described as a complex one. It is the latest in a series of transactions that stemmed from land use arrangements portfolio creation, securing a suitable investment partner, joint venture document negotiation for governance and project financing, and getting through new and complicated Overseas Investment Act concerns. This series of transactions took place over about five years.
“Generating more renewable energy is the future of the electricity market in New Zealand and developing new capacity to help enable this is something that we’re proud to be involved in”, FNSF director Richard Homewood said.
Tompkins Wake corporate partner Michael Shanahan highlighted NZGIF’s support of FNSF, which he said “comes at a challenging time in New Zealand’s energy market and underpins New Zealand’s commitment to maintaining its position as a global leader in renewable energy generation”.
Tompkins Wake has been helping FNSF to grow its project portfolio since 2019. Shanahan has taken the lead on the multidisciplinary team, which includes experts like Theresa Le Bas, Tom Price, Campbell Stewart, Briar Shaw and Jacinda May.
“The signing of this agreement is a positive milestone for New Zealand’s energy future. Transpower has a significant pipeline of other generation projects that want to connect to the national grid which are critical both for security of supply and the decarbonisation of our economy,” said Raewyn Moss, Transpower’s executive general manager of customer and external affairs. “The ability for a developer to access capital is another critical element of getting renewable energy developments off the ground, and NZGIF can play a key role in that going forward. We look forward to working with FNSF on this project”.
