Conrad Purcell
Conrad Purcell is a partner in the Energy Practice Group in Haynes Boone’s London office.
Conrad’s practice focuses primarily on energy and infrastructure projects. He advises funders, sponsors and governments in the financing, development, acquisition and disposal of energy and infrastructure projects. He was recognized in The Legal 500, Legalease Ltd., 2021, with the following testimonial: "Conrad Purcell has impressed us with his professionalism, expertise and efficiency. He always delivers the best solution on time. We definitely would like to continue having Conrad for our future projects.”
Conrad has experience in structuring, drafting and negotiating finance and security documents, as well as commercial agreements such as construction, operation, maintenance and management contracts, joint venture and shareholder agreements, and power purchase, tolling and offtake agreements.
Conrad advises on a wide range of funding structures including project finance from commercial banks, DFIs/MDBs, as well as ECA supported lending, vendor finance, mezzanine and other structured finance, private placements and a variety of institutional and retail bond issues.
Conrad has experience advising on projects utilising a broad range of new energy technologies including wind, solar PV and CSP, hydroelectric, biomass, tidal and energy storage, in established and emerging markets. In recent years, he has also advised on conventional thermal power projects and energy infrastructure, as well as on projects in health, housing, communications, transport and digital infrastructure.
Having worked as an in-house lawyer for a number of years, as well as in private practice, Conrad has a good understanding of the commercial positions that need to be reconciled for projects to successfully reach completion. He uses this experience to help parties achieve consensus during what can be long and complex negotiations, especially where projects are being developed in markets with few comparable or similar examples.
- UK battery storage – advising developer KX Power Limited in connection with the acquisition of a number of pre-construction BESS projects by way of SPV share purchase and associated legal due diligence.
- Advising Raxio Group in its capacity as the project sponsor on the US$110 million project financing of a portfolio of data centres. The portfolio will consist of up to 10 data centres across several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Joint venture - advising KX Power Limited on its up to £200m joint venture with BlackRock Real Assets for the development and build out of a pipeline of UK grid-connected battery storage projects.
- UK battery storage – advising developer Still Waters Green Technology in connection with the acquisition, development and project financing of a 70MW (35MW – 2hr) battery storage project in Swindon, England with senior debt being provided by Santander.
- Macquarie Bank - advising on all aspects of the HoldCo financing and security package for two operating Spanish wind farm projects with a combined capacity of 93.6MW owned by Foresight Group.
- UK rooftop solar – advising a developer in connection with the installation of rooftop solar panels across a number of supermarkets in conjunction with a third party funder.
- Canaccord Genuity - advising in connection with the c. C$18m bond issue by a UK biosciences company listed on the Toronto stock exchange.
- Advising the Government of Cameroon, in its capacity as a shareholder in the Nachtigal Hydro Power Company, on the €1.2bn financing of the 420MW Nachtigal hydropower project.
- UK hydro – advising facility agent and security trustee on finance documents in connection with a c. £43m private placement to Aberdeen Standard Investments to finance six operational hydro-electric schemes in the Scottish Highlands.
- Advising a development finance institution in connection with all aspects of an innovative form of re-guarantee facility, worth USD 74m, to provide liquidity support to regional banks across Africa.
- UK solar – advising the Pension Infrastructure Platform on the refinancing of a portfolio of operating solar PV assets by way of a private placement bond issue to Standard Life and HSBC Bank Pension Trust.
- UK solar – advising the senior lenders in relation to the refinancing of a UK ground mounted solar PV installation owned by a community interest company and partly funded by way of a retail bond issue.
- Kenyan solar PV – advising two IPPs in connection with the negotiation and drafting of power purchase agreements for a solar PV project and a hydro-power project in Kenya with Kenya Power (KPLC).
- Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village – advising sponsors (Gigawatt Global, Norfund and Scatec Solar) in relation to the project financing of solar PV project in Rwanda.
- UK off-shore wind - advising sponsors in relation to sell down of a portion of equity, and restructuring of intra-group funding arrangements, for an operating UK off-shore wind farm.
- Rudine wind farm - advising developer RP Global on all aspects of finance documents in relation to 34MW onshore wind farm in Croatia funded by IFC and UniCredit Bank.
- South African Renewable Energy IPP Programme Round 3 Projects - advising Enel Green Power S.p.A. on drafting and negotiation of EPC contracts and O&M contracts for two on-shore wind farms with a combined capex of c. €300m.
- Biomass - advising sponsor on structuring, FEED and EPC contract procurement of a 100MW biomass power project, as well as O&M and LTSA contracts.
- Recognized in The Legal 500 UK, Legalease, in Project Finance, 2018-2019 and 2023
- "Adapting in a New Era," author, Global Hydrogen Review, March 28, 2024.
- “UK Project Finance Comparative Guide,” author, The Legal 500, Jan. 17, 2024.
- “Hydrogen’s role in energy security and the decarbonisation of the UK’s energy sector,” co-author, Building a Strategy, June 30, 2023.
- “Alternative Funding Sources for Renewable Energy Projects,” author, Clean Energy Pipeline, Jun. 9, 2023.
- “Diving In: Solving the Supply Chain Issues in Offshore Wind,” co-author, Energy Voice, May 16, 2023.
- “United Kingdom Project Finance,” author, Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides, Jan 18, 2023.
- “How Digital Twins can Mitigate Operational Risk for Wind and Solar Projects”, co-author, Infrastructure Investor, Dec 11, 2023.
- “Hydrogen as a Fuel – Decarbonising the UK’s Energy Sector,” co-author, Energy Voice, Dec 13, 2022.
- “LIBOR Phase Out of Sterling and US Dollar Markets,” author, IJ Global, Aug 15, 2022.
- “Navigating the Deep Waters of Offshore Floating Wind,” co-author, Infrastructure Investor, Jun 8, 2022.
- “Time to Wind Down? End of Life Options for the UK’s Ageing Wind Farms,” author, Energy Voice, Jan 24, 2022.
- “The National Security and Investment Act Takes Effect on 4 January – What You Need to know,” author, New Power, Jan 7, 2022.
Education
Master's Degree, Cambridge University, 2006
B.S.C. (Hons), London South Bank University, 1999
Admissions
England and Wales
Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Conrad Purcell authored an article for the Spring Edition of Global Hydrogen Review on the existing hydrocarbon infrastructure needing to be adapted to work with alternative fuels. Read an excerpt below: The electrification of transport, heating and industry, using power generated from renewables, is the basis on which many governments hope to reduce greenhouse gas (G [...]
Conrad Purcell Contributes to 2nd Edition of The Legal 500: U.K. Project Finance Comparative Guide
January 17, 2024
