Hadef & Partners advised the first UAE award-winning clean coal project

The Hassyan clean coal power project in Dubai has been awarded the Thomson Reuters PFIE (Project Finance Industry) Award for the ‘Middle East & Africa Power Deal of the Year 2016’. The Hadef & Partners’ Banking & Finance team acted as the sponsors’ UAE counsel on the Hassyan clean coal power project contributing to the successful closing of the project in December 2016.

This Independent Power Project (IPP) is of particular significance as it is one of the largest project finance deals in the UAE, and the region, and it is to be fuelled by clean coal that will be shipped by vessel to the Hassyan site. It is a 2400 Megawatt IPP with USD3.4Billion financing of which there is USD2.48Billion worth of debt.

This is a pioneering project for the UAE and provides diversity of power energy supply in contrast to gas solar and nuclear energy. The Hassyan clean coal power project is the first IPP to utilise coal. Currently all other IPPs in the UAE are gas, solar or nuclear powered.

The Hadef & Partners’ team was led by Alan Rodgers (partner, head of banking) assisted by Valeria Lysenko (partner) and Yasmene Aweti (associate).