London—Dentons has advised VLC Renewables, the Jersey-based fund established by Low Carbon and Vitol, on its investment in the first phase of a 500MW onshore wind farm at Zaporizhia in Ukraine. Developed by LongWing Energy, which will continue to be the majority shareholder, the wind farm is expected to be one of the top five largest operating onshore wind generators in Europe capable of powering approximately 780,000 homes.

The first phase of the wind farm will have a capacity of 98MW, with commercial operation expected to commence in Q2 2020. The wind farm will sell its power into the Ukrainian market through a Power Purchase Agreement with a Ukraine state-owned enterprise, and will benefit from a 10-year fixed rate feed-in tariff. Senior debt financing is being provided by the US Government’s development finance institution, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), with other investors including GE Energy Financial Services.

Christopher Thomson, UK Energy partner at Dentons who led on the matter, said, "Our cross-border team is pleased to have supported VLC Renewables in its investment in the first phase of this onshore wind farm project. The project is a leap towards expanding Ukraine's wind energy capacity, helping the Eastern Europe market in its move towards renewable energy generation."

Dentons fielded a combined team from London and Kyiv. Alongside Christopher Thomson in London, Energy associate Paul Scott and Banking and Finance partner Mark Cheney, associate Natalie Burns and trainee Ashley Dowson advised, as well as Corporate partner Adam Mycyk, Real Estate counsel Maksym Sysoiev and senior associate Natalia Levchuk in Kyiv.

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