Hogan Lovells advises on construction of Protos Energy Recovery Facility

The project, a joint venture between Covanta, Green Investment Group and Biffa, reached financial close on 1 December 2020, after a concerted effort of negotiations. The facility is expected to be fully operational in 2024.

At the end of the construction period, the facility in Cheshire, UK, will generate up to 49 megawatts of electricity with the nominal ability to treat up to 400,000 tonnes of residual non-recyclable waste per year, producing enough low carbon electricity to power around 90,000 homes. Project construction will bring significant economic opportunities to the local and regional area both during construction and upon completion.

Covanta will operate the facility for an initial 20-year term. Biffa will provide the majority of the waste supply through a long-term agreement.

The Hogan Lovells team advising is led by infrastructure, energy, resources, and projects partners Tobias Faber in Frankfurt, with Scott Tindall and Jeremy Brittenden in London. Led by Scott, the firm has previously advised Covanta, GIG and Veolia on the successful completion of the 60MW Rookery South Energy Recovery Facility in Bedfordshire; and the International Finance Corporation and its client the City of Belgrade on a landmark public private partnership to design, build and operate a 103 MW EfW facility in Serbia.

Tobias Faber, Client Relationship Partner for MYTILINEOS and project lead commented: "We are proud to have advised MYTILINEOS on its market entry into the United Kingdom. Our international EfW practice has advised on almost every EfW project in the EMEA region and we were able to leverage our wealth of experience for the benefit of MYTILINEOS."

Scott Tindall and Jeremy Brittenden, who co-led the EPC and Interface negotiation said: "This marks the third major EfW project on which we have advised in the last two years, cementing our position at the forefront of energy recovery. The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how interconnected our world is, and with climate change a very real and recognised issue, particularly in the UK in the run up to the re-scheduled COP26 this year, it’s more important than ever that we are able to help our clients improve the UK’s waste infrastructure and progress towards a low-carbon economy."

The team was further supported by partner Alexander Stefan Rieger (leading negotiations with Standardkessel Baumgarte on the Consortium Agreement), senior associate Alex Brightman and associate Susannah Moody in London, and associates Jürgen Kess and Ruchi Rawat in Frankfurt.