International law firm Bird & Bird has once again advised TenneT TSO GmbH and TransnetBW GmbH on the largest energy infrastructure project in Germany.
The Bird & Bird team advised TenneT on the procurement procedure for the construction of the SuedLink converter stations in Wilster (Schleswig-Holstein) and Bergrheinfeld (Bavaria). TenneT and TransnetBW were also advised on the construction of the cable section stations under the same procurement procedure. Under Project 4 of the Federal Requirements Plan Act, the contract was awarded to Hitachi Energy, which will design and manufacture the systems with its experts at state-of-the-art production facilities in Germany and Sweden.
The contract award is worth several hundred million euros. With this, all four required converter stations together with the associated cable section stations have now been commissioned for the SuedLink, which consists of two HVDC-transmission projects with a capacity of two gigawatts each.
The team advised on the drafting and negotiation of the extremely complex turnkey EPC contracts for the construction of the two converter and cable section stations of TenneT and the cable section stations of TransnetBW (i.e., planning, procurement and construction) and the maintenance contract of TenneT. The negotiations took place over the course of an EU-wide procurement procedure which lasted several months, including several rounds of negotiations on the aforementioned contracts.
TenneT TSO GmbH and TransnetBW GmbH were advised by the following Bird & Bird lawyers: Lead & Negotiator in the tender procedure, partner and co-head of International Energy Networks & Transmission Group Lars Kyrberg (partner, Commercial), Valerian Jenny (senior counsel, Commercial), Michael Brooks-Zavodsky (counsel, Commercial), Luiza Jeske (associate, Commercial), Laura Strosin (associate, Regulatory & Administrative), Georg Höxter (associate, Regulatory & Administrative), and Laura Ruby, LL.M. (associate, Commercial). Additional advice was provided by: Dr. Alexander Csaki (partner, Regulatory & Administrative) and Martin Conrads (senior counsel, Regulatory & Administrative).
