Site and offtake
We secure the land interest and wayleaves, and settle the commercial shape of the offtake before anyone spends money on engineering.
Energy transactions in East Africa succeed or fail on sequencing. Land, licensing, offtake and funding each have their own clock, and they have to be made to run together.
We act across the full life of a generation project: securing the site and the wayleaves, negotiating the power purchase or lease-to-own arrangement with the offtaker, papering the EPC and O&M contracts, obtaining the licences and permits the sector regulator requires, and closing the equity and debt that funds construction. Our associates work with clients in the renewable energy sector day to day, and our transaction list runs from a 350 kWp rooftop plant in Juba to a portfolio of grid-tie captive projects exceeding 20 MW.
What we do
- Grid-tie captive power and IPP structuring
- Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) arrangements
- Off-grid, mini-grid and rooftop solar PV projects
- Power purchase, lease and offtake agreements
- Land, lease and wayleave acquisition for project sites
- EPC and O&M contract negotiation
- Generation and distribution licensing
- Regulatory compliance and permitting
- Project debt and development finance
- Equity investment and shareholder arrangements
- Extractives concessions and host government agreements
- Environmental and social compliance workstreams
How a project runs with us
Licensing
We map the licences, permits and approvals the project needs, file them in the right order, and build the real timelines into your programme.
Construction contracts
We negotiate the EPC and O&M packages so that performance risk, delay and liquidated damages sit where your funders expect them to sit.
Funding and close
We document the equity and debt, satisfy conditions precedent, perfect the security and close, then hand over the post-completion calendar.
Representative matters
EnergyKenya
USD10,000,000
Ofgen Limited
Lead legal counsel on the structuring of various grid-tie captive power generation projects with a combined generation capacity of over 20 MW.
Captive power20 MW+
EnergySouth Sudan
USD1,000,000
Ofgen Limited, UAP Towers Juba
Legal advisory support for the development of an off-grid 350 kWp solar PV plant by way of a Design Build Operate and Transfer structure.
DBOTOff-grid
EnergyCross-border
USD2,500,000
Kenyan solar C&I developer
Legal consultancy and advisory services on the acquisition of a 35% equity stake in the company by a French multinational corporation.
Equity acquisitionInbound
EnergyKenya & South Sudan
MultipleOff-grid portfolio
Harmonic Systems Company Limited
Advisory support on the structuring of various off-grid solar power plant transactions in Kenya and South Sudan.
Off-gridPortfolio
Questions we are asked
Yes. Our South Sudan practice group is led by an advocate admitted in both Kenya and South Sudan, and we have advised on an off-grid solar plant in Juba on a DBOT structure as well as on banking and insurance establishment in the same market.
We act on both sides, though not on the same transaction. Our banking practice regularly handles lender-side diligence, security perfection and development finance drawdown, including facilities from institutions such as COFIDES.
Before the land interest is signed, if possible. Most of the expensive problems we are asked to fix later began as a lease or wayleave that did not support the project structure or the funders' security requirements.
Energy work is led by our Managing Partner with Lennox Njogu, who specialises in energy, regulatory compliance and M&A and has advised renewable energy and banking sector clients on high-value contracts. See the team.
Tell us about the project.
Site, offtaker, capacity and funding route. That is usually enough for us to tell you where the timeline risk sits.