We advise on all strategic and legal aspects of energy and infrastructure transactions. Transactions of a certain size require extensive specialist knowledge, teamwork, broad perspective and, not least, experience in relation to both the legal and the commercial aspects of the transaction. We advise our clients within this field and strive to ensure that such advice adds maximum value to the client. 

At the core of our strategy is collaboration. We do everything as a team – for the benefit of our clients - and we constantly strive to remain the law firm in Denmark which provides the most value-adding legal services to our clients.

Highlights 

• HOFOR - advice to HOFOR, a utility provider with more than 1,200 employees and 1,1 million customers in the Copenhagen metropolitan area, in connection with various investments in both solar parks and wind farms as a part of the plan to make HOFOR CO2-neutral by 2025 
• Radius - advice to an undisclosed bidder (an international pension fund) on all legal matters relating to the acquisition of Ørsted's power distribution company, Radius, as well as Ørsted's personal customer business and exterior lighting
• European Energy - assistance to one of the largest developers of wind and solar projects in Denmark on all legal aspects, including within energy, regulatory, finance, real estate, tax and M&A, relating to the sale of the Danish wind parks Svindbæk, Bornholm and Holmen II
• Postlane Partners - assistance to the US private investment company on all legal aspects relating to the acquisition of A/S Dansk Shell, including the oil refinery and the marine terminal in Fredericia. The refinery, which is one out of only two oil refineries in Denmark, has capacity to refine about 3.4m tons crude oil annually
• Arjun Infrastructure Partners - assistance to Arjun Infrastructure Partners in connection with its investment in a biogas plant (Sustainable Bio Solutions Aabenraa) located in Denmark
• Ineos - assistance in connection with the acquisition of Spirit Energy in Denmark, including 40% of the ownership of the Hejre license and 30% of the Solsort license. Following the transaction, Ineos will be the sole owner of the Hejre license, which will continue to be developed towards production in the coming years. At the same time, Ineos takes over a larger share of the Solsort license and is now the majority owner of this license 
• Green Power Partners - advice in relation to the acquisition of 88 wind turbines across 19 wind parks located throughout Denmark. Greenpower Partners is an investment joint venture owned by the two Danish pension funds AP Pension and Pædagogernes Pension
• Infranode - advice to the Swedish infrastructure fund on all legal aspects, including within energy, regulatory, finance, real estate and M&A, relating to the completion of Infranode's first energy investment in Denmark for the development of a solar park (155 MWp)
• Equinor (Statoil)  – advice on all legal matters, including within energy, regulatory, tax, finance and M&A, relating to the acquisition of Danske Commodities, a leading player in Denmark in within trade with electricity and gas as well as other services in the European energy markets

Over the past decades, our energy and infrastructure team have obtained wide experience within project development by advising clients on large-scale energy and infrastructure development projects within both the private and the public sector. Within energy this includes the development of facilities and plants for the exploitation, production and transport of energy (oil, gas, biogas, power, hydrogen etc.) onshore as well as offshore. Within infrastructure, this, includes the development of airports, railways, bridges, cable connections etc. 

When advising on project development, we are often involved in all phases of the project development, including in relation to procurement, regulatory matters, acquisition of property and drafting, negotiation and management of related project agreements as well as contract and claims management. Through this work our team have obtained in-depth knowledge of drafting and negotiating DSA (Development Services); EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction); O&M (Operation and Maintenance) and TCM (Technical and Commercial Management) contracts as well as other related varieties such as EPCI (EPC and Installation), EPCM (EPC Management) and EPCMQ (EPC Management and Qualification) contracts. In that context, we have also obtained extensive experience with respect to the FIDIC regime.  

Highlights

• H2 Energy - assisting the Swiss energy company, H2 Energy Europe, on their establishment of Europe's largest hydrogen plant (Power-to-X) in Esbjerg, Denmark. The plant is expected to be 1GW and is expected to be ready in 2024. It will convert wind into green hydrogen, which will be used in the heavy land transport 
• Femern A/S - advice on the biggest infrastructure project in Danish history, the Fehmarn connection between Denmark and Germany (value approx. EUR 8 billion). We have provided advice on the initial organisational considerations and the setting-up of companies to handle tenders and negotiate contracts on the completion of the project and still play an active part in this project which is very important to Denmark
• Sund og Bælt A/S - advice to the Danish state-owned company on all project development matters
• Kalaallit Airports - assistance to the Greenlandic state-owned company on all legal matters relating to the development of three new international airports in Greenland, which is considered the largest infrastructure project in Greenland to date 
• Gaz-System - assistance to the Polish transmission system operator(TSO)  on the Danish part of the development of the Baltic Pipe project, which will make it possible to transport gas from Norway to the Danish and Polish markets 
• Total E&P Danmark - advice  on all legal matters relating to the development of the offshore Tyra Future Project. The work comprises drafting, negotiation and management of EPC contracts
• RWE - advice to RWE on the Thor wind project, an offshore wind project of between 800-1,000 MW, which has been put out to tender by the Danish Energy Agency 
• GlobalConnect - assistance to GlobalConnect on its installation of offshore cables connecting Sweden and Germany. This work included drafting and negotiating EPC contracts, including survey, engineering, procurement, installation og commissioning phases 
• TDC - advice on large-scale tender of framework agreements for fibre network in Denmark (construction, installation, fixtures and fittings, connection, etc)
• Ineos A/S (former DONG E&P A/S) - represented DONG E&P A/S (now Ineos A/S) with respect to the Hejre Project (value approx. DKK 12 billion) regarding its offshore oil platform in the North Sea as well as the surrounding infrastructure. The assistance included drafting and negotiating of EPC contracts as well as contract and claims management
• Undisclosed - advice to an American multinational technology company on its establishment of a new data centre located in Denmark 

For many years, we have been involved in some of the largest and most complex off take agreements in Denmark.

We have advised Danish and international developers, producers, operators and corporate consumers of energy in the form of both power, oil and gas. In this respect, we have particularly obtained a market leading position within the following:

• Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), where Plesner has been the chosen adviser of many large Danish corporations in connection with their conclusion of Corporate PPAs. This has included both financial and virtual Corporate PPAs in Denmark and abroad. In this respect, Plesner has assisted clients on all phases of concluding such corporate PPA from the procurement and drafting phase until the negotiation, execution and development phase. This includes assistance on the first Corporate PPAs in Denmark based on renewable onshore energy sources between an undisclosed international corporate buyer and a Danish electricity producer.
• Gas sale agreements, where we have advised gas companies and operators in the North Sea on the drafting and negotiation of gas sales agreements, which involve a high complexity and require extensive knowledge of the industry. We have assisted Total E&P A/S (as an operator in the North Sea), among others, on its gas sales agreements with Ørsted. 

In recent years, new energy sources, such as hydrogen, have entered the market and we expect to see an increase of off take agreements within these renewable sources of energy. At this point in time, we have already been involved in one of the largest hydrogen projects (Power-to-X) in Denmark. 

Highlights

• Arla - assisting the large Danish dairy company, Arla, in the process of entering into a corporate PPA with Better Energy on the establishment of four new solar parks. As a part of the corporate PPA, Better Energy will develop and build four solar plants in Denmark with an expected annual production of 250 GWh from 2024
• Clever - assisting Clever in the process of entering into a ten-year corporate PPA with European Energy. The PPA with European Energy creates security for the construction of a new solar farm in Tryggevælde which will have an energy capacity of 42 MW
• Undisclosed - as part of the renewable energy strategy of the client, the company has decided to enter into corporate PPAs in the countries in which its manufacturing facilities are located. As part of this strategy, Plesner has been chosen as the lead legal advisor in structuring, drafting and concluding the PPAs with various developers in more than five different countries around Europe with a total  capacity of approx. 130 MW (ongoing)
• Undisclosed - advising an undisclosed international tech-company on its PPA strategy in Denmark as well as the preparation, negotiation and conclusion of corporate PPA's for a PV plant with a capacity of approx. 200 MW (ongoing)
• Undisclosed Danish developer - advising an undisclosed Danish developer in its procurement process of offering PPAs for offtakers for (for the time being) two PV plants of 64 MW in Denmark. Our advice also includes the drafting and negotiation of the PPAs (ongoing)
• Equinor/ Danske Commodities - advising Equinor (Statoil), in 2018-2019, on all legal matters, including within DC's European PPA portfolio, relating to Equinor's acquisition of Danske Commodities, which is a leading player in Denmark in trading electricity and gas as well as other services in the European energy markets
• Ørsted - over a number of years Plesner has advised Ørsted/DONG in various projects and transactions within energy, including wind project and biomass project in DK and Europe which has been based on PPA set-ups
• Novozymes - advising Novozymes on parts of its PPA negotiations with Vattenfall from the Kriegers Flak Project
• Andel - advising on the drafting, negotiation and conclusion of a virtual corporate PPA in Denmark 

By combining our market-leading renewable energy expertise with our market-leading debt capital markets and banking & finance expertise, we advise corporates and financiers on the structuring and issuance of all types of green and sustainable finance, including:

• Green bonds and loans where the proceeds of the financing are to be applied to fund eligible green projects (for example, renewable energy projects)
• Sustainability-linked bonds and loans where the terms of the financing (for example, the pricing) are linked to performance under sustainability criteria

The market for green and sustainable finance has grown rapidly in recent years and continues to evolve as increasing regulatory pressures and demand from investors promote the incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in financing and investment portfolios. Plesner has thorough knowledge of the relevant industry standards and legal frameworks, such as ICMA principles, LMA principles and the EU Taxonomy Regulation, and we continue to be at the forefront of the developments.

Highlights

• European Energy - assistance in connection with its issuance of EUR 200m of senior secured green bonds in total, the first Danish green corporate bonds to be listed on the Green Bond Segment of Nasdaq Copenhagen
• European Energy - assistance in connection with its issuance of EUR 150m of hybrid green bonds in total listed on the Green Bond Segment of Nasdaq Copenhagen
• Nordic Bank Club - assistance in connection with a green facilities agreement for Cadeler A/S

We advise on all regulatory matters of relevance for the energy and infrastructure sector. Clients regularly seek our advice on matters regarding larger energy assets, including publicly subsidized assets, and development projects which require a variety of permits and consents from administrative authorities. 

Our team are seasoned in the strategic aspects of handling regulatory matters, including in approaching the Danish administrative authorities to secure an efficient process or solve issues. In our daily work, we combine and make use of our vast knowledge of the general principles of Danish public administrative law and our in-depth experience with regulation on energy matters to ensure the best possible results in complex regulatory processes. 

Highlights 

• European Energy - assistance to  one of the largest developers of wind and solar projects in Denmark, on all legal aspects, including regulatory matters, relating to the sale of the Danish wind parks 
• Infranode - advice to the Swedish infrastructure fund on all legal aspects, including within energy, regulatory, finance, real estate and M&A, relating to the completion of Infranode's first energy investment in Denmark for the development of the largest solar park to date in Northern Europe
• Equinor (Statoil) –advice on all legal matters, including within energy, regulatory, tax, finance and M&A, relating to Equinor's acquisition of Danske Commodities, which is a leading player in Denmark in trading electricity and gas as well as other services in the European energy markets
• SEAS-NVE - provision of advice to SEAS-NVE, including advice on energy, procurement and corporate matters. SEAS-NVE is a company cooperatively owned by approx. 400,000 members which owns, operates and services the geographically longest electricity grid in Denmark (DSO) and makes investments in energy projects
• A.P Møller Holding - advice on regulatory matters regarding geothermal energy and economic regulation in the Danish Heat Supply Act 
• Ørsted - advice on M&A and energy issues relating to divestment of Ørsted's bioenergy activities, including the plants located in Kalundborg, Horsens, Fredericia and Lintrup
• Hess – advice on regulatory and public law matters and support in dealing with administrative authorities related to Hess' gas activities in Denmark 
• Data centres - advice on energy and environmental matters regarding the development of large data centres in Denmark, including EU's Network Codes

In recent years, Plesner has been involved in dispute resolution for around 80% of Danish C20 companies. 

From the start until the conclusion of a case, we work closely with our clients on planning a strategy for the conduct of the case. We have tactical and commercial competences as well as advice on risks and risk management, including specific views as to which risks we believe are feasible and which are not.  

Within energy and infrastructure, we have assisted large clients - both private and public clients - in a great variety of medium and large-scale arbitration and litigation proceedings concerning mostly claims relating to large energy and infrastructure projects. In that connection, we have obtained extensive experience in conducting both arbitration and litigation proceedings in many different venues, including the Danish Arbitration Institute, the Danish Building and Construction Arbitration Board as well as litigation before all Danish courts. 

Highlights

• Metro construction arbitration - represented a contractor as lead counsel in a multi-billion construction dispute (ongoing and confidential)
• The Hejre Project arbitration - represented DONG E&P A/S (now Ineos A/S) in arbitration proceedings concerning the Hejre Project, an offshore oil platform in the North Sea (value approx. DKK 12 billion) 
• The COMET arbitration - represented Copenhagen Metro Construction Group (COMET) in arbitration proceedings against the state-owned Metroselskabet concerning delay and disruption claims relating to the first metro project in Copenhagen, M1
• East Funen railway arbitration - represented Arkil and Strukton Rail in arbitration proceedings against Banedanmark concerning the termination of a contract relating to the execution of a railway line from Odense to Nyborg