Pictured: Kathy Toon (Martineau) and Jenny Brosnan
(Toyota)
Birmingham and London law firm Martineau, recently joined a
major client's celebrations for the official 'switch-on' of one of
the largest solar installations in the UK manufacturing sector, and
the first large scale solar array for the UK car industry.
Working for long standing client Toyota Manufacturing UK,
experts from Martineau's energy team combined with its renowned
real estate team, advised on the project between Toyota and British
Gas, which will generate electricity for Toyota's manufacturing
plant in Burnaston, Derby. The installation of 17,000 solar PV
panels - which take up an area equal to the size of approximately
12 football pitches - is expected to reduce Toyota's CO2 emissions
by 2,000 tonnes per year. The saving in energy will be equivalent
to 4,600,000 kWh, enough energy to build around 7,000 cars per
year.
This is another initiative by Toyota that further proves their
green credentials, having just been crowned 'greenest brand in the
world' by branding experts Interbred. The installation was paid for
by British Gas, who will, in return, claim the feed-in tariff - a
new scheme which sees the owners being paid for the renewable
electricity they generate.
Toyota Manufacturing UK will now benefit from the free renewable
energy generated.
The property aspects of the deal were handled by Martineau real
estate partner Kathy Toon, who joined Martineau in 2010.
Kathy says: "The scheme was a challenge in a number of ways.
Although the market is moving towards a consensus, industry
standard documentation for this type of project has been slow to
emerge. As a result a number of issues needed to be worked through
to 'stress test' the document and make sure it was robust enough
from everyone's point of view. At the same time, the government's
fast track review of tariff levels meant the transaction had to be
concluded quickly if the parties were to get the maximum benefit
from it."
Andrew Whitehead, senior partner and head of the Energy and
Climate Change practice at Martineau, commented: "Toyota is truly
leading the way for green manufacturing. This initiative will play
a massive part in reducing the plant's carbon footprint, and will
significantly reduce its power bills. It's unfortunate that the
Government have since made such significant cuts to the feed-in
tariff for solar schemes, as it is likely to discourage and prevent
many other large manufacturers from being able to follow suit.
Green energy, and perhaps more importantly the opportunity to cut
energy costs, is a big issue for industry that should be promoted
and enabled right now."
In projects of this nature, Martineau's energy and real estate
teams are fully supported by an 18-strong industry and
manufacturing (I&M) team. Formed as a result of the firm's
commitment to local, regional and national manufacturers, the
I&M team is led by partner Adam McGiveron and backed by 160
other lawyers from across the firm. The team incorporates experts
in banking, tax, insolvency, commercial disputes, IP, dispute
resolution, property and employment to offer clients an all
encompassing range of legal services delivered via a partner-led
approach.
The Toyota project is the latest in a long line for Martineau's
energy practice, which has seen a busy summer. Last month, the
firm's corporate finance team announced the completion of one of
the largest private equity investment programmes in the UK solar
sector, acting for established City-based fund manager Octopus
Investments, and shortly afterwards, Martineau's construction team
closed a major biomass generation project in Yorkshire for long
standing client Warwick Energy. The firm has a healthy order book
for many more renewables projects for a variety of funders,
developers and landowners.