Energy & Infrastructure

Our Energy and Infrastructure Department is one of the largest of its kind in Israel, advising on the wide variety of energy and infrastructure projects currently ongoing in Israel, the majority of which are highly complex and singular in nature. The department is consistently ranked in the top tier rankings by international and Israeli rating agencies such as “IFLR1000”, “Chambers Global”, “The Legal 500”, “BDiCode” and “Dun’s100”.

Our department has extensive experience and expertise in a wide range of areas in this field, including: advising on projects during their initiation, construction and commercial operation stages; advising bidders in tenders (including BOT and PFI); and advising a wide variety of clients such as industrial plants, income-yielding real estate companies and municipal bodies, in all their needs in the energy and infrastructure field, including reduced rate electricity purchase from private producers, conversion to natural gas, fuel purchases and construction of electricity production facilities on their territories.

The team has a unique expertise in energy and infrastructure regulation, and a close professional acquaintance with the various regulators, including the Electricity Authority, the Gas Authority, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance.

The team also possesses a deep and unique understanding of all aspects of the Israeli energy sector and infrastructure field, enabling it to thoroughly assess the overall picture and provide its clients with comprehensive solutions, integrating both legal and commercial aspects, and serving the clients’ business objectives. The department’s legal and commercial capabilities, together with its rich experience and long standing reputation, have made it a natural choice for leading clients in the field.

Renewable Energies

Our department has been active in the renewable energy market in Israel since its establishment and has accumulated rich and unique experience in the development, construction and operation of photovoltaic installations, thermo-solar installations, wind farms, biomass facilities and biogas facilities. The department regularly accompanies local entrepreneurs and international companies, construction contractors (EPC) and operating and maintenance contractors (O&M), as well as municipalities and companies on whose grounds facilities are to be erected. The department provides comprehensive legal support throughout the project’s life, from the initiation and development stage of the project, through the stages of financing and construction of the project to (and including) the operation of the facility. Our department has been recognized by Chambers Global as an “Impressive Group with a Strong Offering in the Renewable Energy Sector.”

Regulation

Our department has unique expertise in the regulation of the electricity sector and the natural gas sector, and regularly advises companies, representative organizations and entrepreneurs operating in these sectors, which are characterized by frequent regulatory changes. The department works regularly and frequently with government ministries and relevant authorities and has a regular professional interface with the Electricity Authority, the Natural Gas Authority, the Fuel Administration, the Petroleum Commissioner and other entities in the Ministry of Energy. The Department regularly reviews and interprets the decisions of the relevant government ministries and authorities in order to create an added value for its customers in the complex regulatory reality in these fields.

Representation of Energy Consumers

Our department has extensive and exceptional practice in representing energy consumers and regularly accompanies industrial companies, income–yielding real-estate companies, infrastructure companies and municipal authorities in the process of purchasing reduced electricity from private electricity producers, converting factories and purchasing natural gas and fuel, establishing facilities for an independent generation of electricity through conventional and renewable technologies, and more. We assist our numerous clients in reducing their energy outputs with the rich experience and knowledge of our department and our familiarity with the relevant regulations.

Tenders

The department accompanies Israeli and international companies in various tenders and bids in the fields of energy, infrastructure, transportation and real-estate (including BOT and PFI tenders). The department has extensive experience and rich knowledge in accompanying bidders and tender offerors in public and private tenders in the fields of energy and infrastructure and has been involved in many of the major tenders in Israel in recent years.

• Representation of the Blue Square controlled by Moti Ben Moshe in the acquisition of holdings in a conventional power station with a capacity of 430MW located in Be’er Tuvia.
• Representation of Sigma Epsilon in the acquisition of holdings in Dalia Energy Ltd., the largest private conventional power station in Israel with a capacity of 910MW.
• Representation of Shikun & Binui Ltd., which together with the Spanish company Abangoa, won a tender for the construction of a thermo-solar plant in Ashalim with an installed capacity of 120MW at an estimated cost of USD1 billion (Plot A), in a complex procedure of replacing Abangua due to its insolvency proceedings; representation of Solel Boneh (a subsidiary of Shikun & Binui Ltd.) in the construction works of the above facility.
• Representation of BrightSource in the construction of a 120MW thermos-solar plant in Ashalim (Plot B) and in connection with installations constructed by BrightSource outside of Israel.
• Representation of EDF Energies Nouvelles Israel Ltd. in the development of a large number of wind farms throughout the country, with a total installed power capacity exceeding 150MW.
• Representation of Aveeram in its NIS 40 million transaction for the sale of part of its holdings in wind farms with a capacity of 100MW, located in the Valley of Tears (Emek HaBa’ha).
• Representation of Invenergy LLC, an American company that has installed worldwide installations for the production of energy with a total installed capacity of approximately 16,000MW, in its commercial activity in Israel in the field of energy.
• Representation of OPC Solar, SM and Greenday Renewable Energy Ltd. in the development of photovoltaic projects throughout Israel, with a total capacity of dozens of MW.
• Representation of Aspen Group Ltd. in its NIS120 million transaction for the sale of its renewable energy division to Noy Fund.
• Representation of Flying Cargo Group in a prequalification tender published by the Ministry of Defense (valued at several hundreds of millions of NIS) for the financing, planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the IDF Unified Supply Center project.
• Representation of Haifa Municipality in formulating and conducting the first tenders in Israel for the purchase and operation of garbage trucks operated by compressed natural gas and the construction of natural gas service stations in its municipality. The scope of the tender: tens of millions of NIS.