Pinsent Masons named Legal Adviser of the Year at Middle East Solar Industry Association Awards

The jury of seven distinguished industry experts consisting of representatives from highly respected institutions around the MENA region, including  H.E. Fatima Al Foora Al Shamshi,  Assistant Undersecretary for Electricity and Future Energy at the UAE Ministry of Energy; Dr Rabia Ferroukhi Head of Policy Unit of IRENA; Taher Diab, Senior Director - Strategy & Planning Dubai Supreme Council of Energy selected Pinsent Masons, in recognition of their exceptional achievements in the MENA solar market.

The award was, in part, in recognition of the work carried out by Pinsent Masons for clients in relation to Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects in the MENA region including the 950MW CSP and Photovoltaic (PV) project procured by DEWA. This is first CSP project in the GCC region using a combination of CSP technologies (tower and parabolic through) and is extremely significant for Dubai, having achieved the lowest levelised cost of electricity globally for a CSP project to date. This project represents the fourth phase of the Emirate's Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park, which will have a total capacity of 1GW by 2020, and 5GW by 2030.  The project was a joint effort from both Pinsent Masons Dubai and the Asia Pacific team, demonstrating their breadth of collaborative expertise offering for clients.

Gurmeet Kaur, Finance and Projects partner based in Dubai said, “We are very honoured to be recognised by MESIA as ‘Legal Adviser of the Year’ and to help support the UAE Energy Strategy of diversifying its energy mix and promoting the successful implementation of CSP technology alongside other solar technologies”.  Gurmeet was also shortlisted for the Woman in Solar award.

Pinsent Masons is also providing ongoing legal support services for seven African Solar Projects including on the 50MW Bokpoort, the 100MW Ilanga and the 100MW Kathu CSP projects in South Africa and likewise on the 160MW Noor 1 and 200MW Noor 2 CSP projects (both parabolic trough) and the 150MW Noor 3 CSP project (tower technology) in Ouarzazate, Morocco, thus cementing their position as leading legal advisors in relation to CSP projects in MENA.

Pinsent Masons has also conducted training seminars on CSP projects, in order to increase awareness of the CSP industry and promote the development of such projects in MENA.