A&O Shearman advises lenders on financing of major European battery energy storage project

This transaction represents the first project financing in the Baltic countries that is exclusively structured around the revenues generated by energy storage assets. This major milestone demonstrates the private sector’s direct investment in strategic energy infrastructure, offering a concrete response to the region’s security-of-supply and energy independence challenges. Both the EBRD and the NIB financings benefit from a first-loss risk cover from the European Union under its InvestEu program.

The commissioning of Hertz 1 marks the first major step in the rollout of the Hertz 1–Hertz 2 complex. Once completed, the two projects—located approximately 25 km from Tallinn—will form one of the largest battery complexes in continental Europe, with a combined capacity of 200 MW of power and 400 MWh of storage. These assets will play a critical role in stabilizing the Baltic power system and in accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels.

Baltic Storage Platform joint venture brings together French independent solar power producer Corsica Sole, Estonia’s leading renewable energy developer Evecon, and Mirova, a fund dedicated to sustainable investment.

The A&O Shearman team comprised lawyers from the Paris and London offices, including partners Driss Bererhi and Lorraine Bayliss, as well as Jessica Stratford, Urvi Gudka, Anas Benmalek and Lucie Prego. Also involved were partner Alexander Chenery, along with Farah El Yacoubi and Kamilla Marianayagam, who advised on legal due diligence and project documentation matters, and counsel Nadège Debeney, who advised on interest rate hedging aspects.

The lenders were also advised by Ellex as Estonian legal counsel.