Offshore wind

Wikborg Rein is equipped with legal experts which can handle all legal aspects related to offshore wind development. Having advised and assisted on several offshore wind projects and matters, our competence and experience range from:

• Mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, stakeholder management and all aspects of project development 
• Financing
• Competition law
• Public aid
• Installation and service vessels
• English law
• Disputes 
• ESG

Offshore wind developments are complex industrial projects which benefit significantly from expert legal counselling. As part of project development, developers must ordinarily organise themselves in joint ventures, partake in competitive tenders, obtain environmental permits, and submit licence applications which must be considered satisfactory by licensing authorities. Below, we describe in more detail how we have positioned ourselves on the offshore wind market with respect to our wide range of legal competencies. 

Wikborg Rein has extensive experience and expertise in the offshore wind sector, and provide legal services across the entire value chain of offshore wind projects, including planning, financing, implementation and construction, and operation. We guide clients through all elements of (i) M&A transactions and fund raising through an industry-specific lens, including due diligence, contract negotiations, regulatory compliance, and strategic structuring. (ii) the establishment and structuring of joint ventures and stakeholder management, including drafting partnership agreements, cooperation agreements, joint venture agreements and consortium agreements, as well as optimising ownership structures and designing governance models (iii) offshore wind project development, including licence applications, complex contract strategies and structures such as with turn key EPCIC, environmental law, agreements with contractors and offtakers, as well as financing and investments. We also assist in communication with public authorities, for example, with respect to the sustainability aspects related to environmental permits.

Our financing experts assist Norwegian and foreign investment banks, financial institutions, funds, Norwegian and foreign private equity companies and their portfolio companies, investment grade and high-yield borrowers and other market participants in connection with the structuring, negotiation, documentation and implementation of project financing transactions, from the structuring through the due diligence and drafting and negotiating finance documents and direct (step-in) agreements as well as satisfaction of conditions, utilisations and general assistance through the life of the facilities. Over the years, Wikborg Rein has been involved in many of the major project finance transactions in Norway either on the lenders, sponsors or borrower side including in the renewable energy sector encompassing Oil & Gas, offshore wind, FPSO, FLNG and FSRU/LNG. 

Our competition law experts advise on (i) the ability of parties to cooperate and submit bids as part of a consortium, (ii) whether any regulatory filing obligations arise as a result of proposed cooperation, (iii) information sharing rules and other guidelines to ensure ongoing competition law compliance. Wikborg Rein has assisted several consortia and individual parties regarding competition law issues arising from proposed cooperation for the construction and operation of offshore wind parks. We have worked closely with players interested in the projects at both Sørlige Nordsjø II and Utsira Nord in Norway, as well as clients involved in projects internationally. Several of our lawyers have also led conferences on the competition law aspects of offshore wind projects and have worked extensively on other renewables projects in both Norway and abroad.      

Our state aid experts has in-depth knowledge of and advices on CEEAG, GBER, and State Aid procedures before ESA and Norwegian authorities. Several of our lawyers also have backgrounds from the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) and the Attorney General of Civil Affairs (Regjeringsadvokaten). Our State Aid team has substantial experience in State Aid law and EU law, particularly within the offshore wind sector. The State Aid team has been closely following the ongoing procedures in both Sørlige Nordsjø II and Utsira Nord, regularly providing comments and legal opinions on these cases. Our State Aid team is also a proud adviser to Fornybar Norge.

Our ESG experts has extensive experience with offshore wind projects, including 

1. supporting interest organisations in public consultations on sustainability criteria, and 
2. assisting with environmental and sustainability sections during bid qualification processes. 

Our services focus on helping companies meet ESG requirements while gaining a strategic advantage in markets demanding high ESG ambition and compliance. This includes aligning internal frameworks, contract clauses, and supplier expectations with the company’s ESG goals, ambitions, and obligations.

We regularly assist clients with agreements for shipbuilding, financing, joint ventures, management and chartering of these vessels. We have for decades assisted clients in bringing installation and service vessels to the offshore wind market. From the early days of the industry, we have acted for several entrepreneurs in the forefront of the development, and today we continue to assist clients with innovative solutions in this ever-evolving market. Our longstanding assistance to the industry has provided valuable insight in the specific commercial and contractual challenges that needs to be addressed, and we are also advising industry organisations and contributing to the development of the documentary framework for the industry in general. 

Wikborg Rein's London office leads the firm's English law capabilities in the offshore wind sector. The team provides comprehensive support across all aspects of offshore wind projects, from pre-contract advice and project execution to dispute resolution, ensuring tailored solutions for clients' complex needs.  Specialising in drafting and negotiating FIDIC and BIMCO Supplytime contracts, the London team is adept at managing the legal frameworks widely used in the development, construction, and installation of wind projects.  Representing vessel owners, equipment manufacturers, and other key stakeholders in the supply chain, the office, in collaboration with the global team, provides seamless legal guidance for offshore wind initiatives worldwide. The process applicable for offshore wind development in England & Wales have been described in more detail in our flowchart, which can be accessed here.

Our dispute team is ranked as a top tier 1 firm. Our lawyers have extensive experience with multifaceted litigation. In addition to so-called post M&A-disputes, our team has handled some of the most complex construction disputes in Norway, both in regular courts as well as in arbitration. Our team has also vast experience with intricate regulatory disputes, both between private parties as well as against the authorities. An example of the latter is a dispute on the Norwegian continental shelf regarding the ownership in an oil field between participants in the licence which also included the government (Repsol og ConocoPhillips tapte milliardtvist med staten | Finansavisen (Norwegian)). Our lawyers have demonstrated through this and other complex disputes that they managed to handle complicated legal issues in the crossroad between private and public law.

Developing offshore wind is time-consuming and require significant resources. The combination of political will and regulatory requirements translates to a range of processes, which eventually results in offshore wind development. In the boxes below, we describe these political and legal processes based on current events in Norway. These processes have also been described in our flowchart, which can be accessed here.