Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised a sponsor consortium (consisting of Japanese general trading company Sojitz Corporation and FAS Energy, the renewable energy development arm of Saudi Arabia’s Fawaz Al Hokair group) on a district cooling plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Cenomi Centers.

The plant is a new, environmentally best-in-class cooling plant that will service the flagship Jawharat Riyadh development and deliver significant savings in electricity consumption. It will provide increased efficiency when compared to traditional cooling systems, resulting in a reduced carbon footprint, and saving the equivalent of one million gallons of gasoline annually.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Middle East projects partners Christopher Cross and Phil Hanson, with support from of counsel Julian Grant and associate Amro Al-Ahmar, as well as partner Joza Al-Rasheed and senior associates Simon O’Connell-Schizas and Saud Al Qahtani in Riyadh.

Phil Hanson commented: “We are pleased to have advised the sponsors on this ground-breaking district cooling project, which plays an important role in Saudi Arabia’s commitment to sustainability in the energy sector.”

The Middle East projects team also advised Marubeni, Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development (JOIN) on the world’s most advanced waste-to-energy facility in Abu Dhabi, UAE earlier this year.

The energy transition is one of Herbert Smith Freehills’ strategic choice growth areas and the firm is committed to advising private capital, banking, infrastructure and energy sector clients that want to invest in or build renewable energy infrastructure all over the world.