The Rookery South Energy Recovery facility will process 545,000 tonnes of municipal, commercial and industrial waste each year, generating over 60 megawatts of low carbon energy to the grid - enough electricity to meet the needs of 112,500 homes. The new plant will be located near Stewartby in Bedfordshire and will be constructed by Japanese/Swiss clean tech company Hitachi Zosen Inova.
The debt financing package was provided by seven major banks: Credit Agricole, Banco de Sabadell, Natixis S.A., Siemens Bank GmbH, Investec plc, National Westminster Bank and Barclays Bank.
The project sponsors are Covanta Energy, Green Investment Group and Veolia Environmental Services ('Veolia'). Covanta Energy will also operate the facility and Veolia will provide the majority of the waste as a feedstock.
Notably, the project was also the first project to be awarded a Development Consent Order under what was the new planning regime for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
The Ashurst team was led by partners Cameron Smith and Patrick Boyle and also comprised partners Michael Smith and Tom Duncan. Counsel Dave Cave and Nick Hilder, senior associates Sophie Pickering and Charlie Reid, and associates Bader Thabti, Sinead Tulley, Ruxandra Ionescu, Tom Parkin and Alice Rosenthal-Erickson all assisted.
Commenting Cameron Smith said:
"Ashurst have been involved in the development of this site assisting Covanta for almost ten years now and therefore achievement of financial close was a hugely satisfying achievement. When originally conceived, the project was intended as a hybrid merchant/PPP project. The project is now a purely merchant facility, reflecting the greater sophistication of the markets for these types of projects. The banks active in this sector are becoming increasingly accustomed to understanding, analysing and managing these merchant risks, enabling the development of a new generation of energy from waste plants."
