Nicola has extensive experience across Australia’s renewable energy sector. She advises sponsors, government agencies and enterprises, financiers, network operators and offtakers on the development, financing and delivery of energy projects. Her practice spans project structuring, financing, acquisitions, power purchase agreements and other revenue contracts, network connection arrangements, energy regulation and licensing, project tenure and land access, and early development stage arrangements.
Nicola has a proven record of advising clients through regulatory interfaces and project lifecycles, bringing commercially grounded, sector-specific insight to transactions.
Nicola’s work highlights include:
- Renewable energy project development: Advising on early-stage development, offtake arrangements, grid access and connection, equity and financing, and regulatory matters for greenfield wind, solar, hydro and BESS projects in the NEM. Highlights include Marinus Link, Engie’s Goorambat Solar Farm, European Energy’s Mokoan Solar Farm and BESS, Tilt’s Palmer Wind Farm and various Squadron Energy wind farm projects.
- Transmission network projects: Advising transmission network service providers and developers on governance frameworks, early works and planning, development and implementation of transmission projects in the NEM. Highlights include advising the Clean Energy Finance Corporation on grid connection arrangements for Marinus Link’s connection to connect to the Victorian shared transmission network and the Tasmanian transmission network.
- Distribution network projects: Advising distribution network service providers and large load customers on early works, planning, development and implementation of distribution network projects, including community battery projects and large load connections.
- Data centre development: Advising various data centre developers and operators on connection arrangements to the transmission and distribution grid networks throughout the NEM.
- Large-scale BESS: Advising on development, offtake, connection, operation, project financing and government funding arrangements for large-scale battery energy storage systems. Highlights include advising Transgrid on the Waratah Super Battery development.
- Energy regulation: Advising on various aspects of energy regulation for development and established generation and transmission asset projects. Highlights include advising Transgrid, Telstra, Generators/Retailers and various financiers and asset managers across a broad range of licencing and compliance related matters.
- Waste to energy: Advising on project financing for waste to energy projects in Western Australia. Highlights include advising financiers of the Kwinana Waste to Energy Facility and separately advising the East Rockingham Waste to Energy Facility financiers on the project financing, receivership and workout arrangements for that facility.
- Pumped hydro energy storage: Advising on the acquisition of early-stage development activities. Highlights include advising AGL on its successful acquisition of the Upper Hunter Hydro Projects development rights.
- Energy supply arrangements: Advising large load customers on energy supply and hedging arrangements. Highlights include advising various data centre operators on their energy supply arrangements.
- Embedded network generation: Advising on the regulatory considerations for the connection and operation of embedded networks and embedded generation networks. Highlights include advising APAM on the airport's grid connection and embedded solar generation network.
