Enel Green Power Espana has successfully implemented a FAC-1 framework alliance contract with all contractors involved in the realisation of the Campillo Wind Cluster in Cueca, Spain.
The Campillo Wind Cluster consists of three wind farms between the towns of Campillo de Altobuey and Enguidanos in Cueca. These three facilities will provide about 660 gigawatt-hours per year. Enel Green Power Espana has an existing renewable capacity of over 7779 megawatts in Spain.
EUR 256m will be invested into the wind farm by Enel Green Power along with hiring 350 people.
Sirbu & Vornicu Law advised Enel Green Power Espana led by managing partner Roxana Vornicu. Roxana was appointed as Alliance Coach advising the client on the implementation of FAC-1, a collaborative contract used as integrator of bilateral appointments/contracts between the members of the project.
´This project was innovative and a great success, showing the potential of collaborative contractual approaches for any type of project and any type of team. What is special in this project was that team members were new to this contract and to collaborative agreements in general. Its benefits became visible from the very beginning of the project and were confirmed at the end since connection to grid took place ahead of time with significant financial savings as well. ´ - Roxana Vornicu
Q&A with Roxana Vornicu
Roxana, can you tell us what your strategy for leading this team throughout this project consisted of and how you personalised this to your clients?
My role in the project was that of an Alliance Coach, an independent adviser guiding the client through the mechanism of FAC-1, the type of contract used for the project as well as through the specific contractual mechanism for joint decision making and risk management. I assisted the Alliance Manager and acted as a back-up/informed support in matters relating to the application of the umbrella contract/contractual integrator.
What legal counsel was necessary for Enel Green Power to succeed through this investment, where did your team come into action to support your clients?
The Enel in house team did an amazing job throughout the project and the advice needed from us was specific in terms of collaborative construction companies.
Were there any challenges which arose in any area and how did you manage to address and overcome these?
The main challenge was the initial phase of introducing the client to these new forms of contracts and ways of working. However, Enel proved to be a visionary client adopting intelligent strategies as a client and this helped us put in practice the benefits of using a contract like FAC-1.
With an investment of EUR 256m how was this figure decided on and what factors have to be considered when dealing with such a large investment?
This is of course dependant on a client´s commercial strategies in Europe and outside of Europe but the fact that an alliance approach was used for such a big investment shows Enel´s commitment to innovative legal advice and contractual practices and their intention to truly lead and inspire towards the future.
Enel Green Power are not only creating renewable energy source they are also supplying 350 local people with job opportunities, what was it like to be a part of this project and support the proceedings?
All of Enel´s results and commitments in this project went beyond just the built asset. Health and Safety was another major objective agreed and binding for all members of the team and all the contractors. It is very fulfilling for us as lawyers when our clients achieve great things and add improved value through their work.
Can you expand on how this project will be completed and the work being done to ensure its success?
I believe its biggest success is Enel´s commitment to continue using collaborative agreements and alliances for their future projects. Whether we are ready to embrace it or not, the construction industry is changing and needs to change if we want to increase productivity and recover after Covid and the recent armed conflicts in the world. When you combine these challenges with the net zero challenge and all the climate change commitments as well as the digitalisation of the industry and increased use of BIM, it becomes clear that we need new types of contracts and approaches, contracts that help us integrate teams and roles rather than focus on transferring the risk down the supply chain. We were therefore happy to contribute to this project and pleased to see that collaborative construction contracts are becoming mainstream in various industries and jurisdictions.
