London—Dentons has assisted Lightsource Renewable Energy Limited (Lightsource), the UK’s largest solar energy generator, in its acquisition and development of 23 large-scale ground and roof mounted solar PV installations in the UK.

Dr Ece Gursoy, Chief Legal Officer for Lightsource, said: “Dentons has been a key legal adviser to us since the start of our business. Their particular expertise within the solar industry has enabled us to put together robust and effective legal documentation for our projects. Although we have a 12-strong legal team of lawyers in-house, we still need to contract external expertise when we run a number of projects simultaneously which need to be completed within a specific timeframe.”

Lucille De Silva, partner in the Energy and Project development practice at Dentons, said: “We are pleased that our expertise in the solar energy sector, combined with our long-standing relationship with Lightsource, has helped Lightsource to secure its market position as the UK’s largest solar developer.”

These acquisitions involved thorough due diligence and the negotiation of leases, project transfer agreements, share purchase agreements and power purchase agreements, and turnkey construction contracts, as well as detailed advice on the Feed-In Tariff, the Renewables Obligation and electricity licensing regimes. Dentons also advised on the refinancing of six of Lightsources' operational solar assets, which were completed in 2011.

The Dentons team was led by partner Lucille De Silva, assisted by James Lansdell and Anna Tostevin, and Jeremy Cohen (corporate), and managing associate Simon Mitchell, assisted partner Madeleine Smallwood (real estate), and Alex Harris, assisted by Kista Kojecky, Kate Dunwoodie and Mel Blanchard (planning).

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