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Energy

Hydro

‘The best firm for renewables work bar none.’ Norton Rose’s ‘lawyers pride themselves on staying ahead of market trends’ and ‘demonstrate understanding of the technical aspects of transactions’ Legal 500, 2010.

Hydro projects have become attractive assets in many markets and we have lawyers specialised in the acquisition and divestment of hydro assets in key markets such as China and Europe.

We have experts who are well versed on the issues arising from the Equator Principles and the World Bank standards on dams. We understand the importance of knowing the social and environmental implications of a hydro project at a local level and how these issues need to be dealt with during the development and financing phase. We regularly work for governments and international financial institutions on the development and implementation of hydro projects in emerging markets.

We act on run of the river and storage hydropower projects globally. As a result of the worldwide commitment to generate more electricity from renewable energy sources activity has increased in all aspects of the hydropower industry - from the development of new projects to the refurbishment of existing facilities, from small hydro projects under 100MW to mega projects in excess of 1000MW.Our hydropower experience reflects the international nature of our energy practice and in recent years we have worked on projects in a number of jurisdictions through Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. These have included some of the most significant developments in the industry in terms of size, value and complexity.

What we offer you

We have built a specialist team of lawyers well versed in the sector-specific issues which impact on the development cycle of hydropower projects, including:

dealing with geological risk in the construction package;
allocation of hydrological risk;
environmental sensitivity and the application of the Equator Principles;
regulatory issues and river-basin management;
monetising the benefits of carbon credits under the Kyoto mechanisms.

Projects underway in China and those planned in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo are just the most visible signs that the hydropower sector is going to be at the forefront of development of renewable energy projects in the years ahead and the global footprint of Norton Rose LLP means that we have specialist lawyers who can help you with your projects.