Canadian Lawyer InHouse

27 canadianLawyErmag.com/inhousE august 2014 In 2013, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., an- nounced the completion and sale of the fi rst three (of nine) solar power projects contracted to be built and sold to TransCanada. CSSI, based in Guelph, Ont., provides engi- neering, procurement and construction services and continues to provide operations and mainte- nance services to the plants once completed as part of their strategy. The fi rst sale, for Brockville 1 (a 10 megawatt AC solar power valued at over $55 million), was com- pleted in July 2013. In October, CSSI announced the sale of Brockville 2 and Burritts Rapids to TransCanada, a further 16 megawatt AC solar power and a combined value of over $95 million. The value of all nine projects, once completed and sold to TransCanada, is estimated at $470 million. Over the last 12 months, the legal team for CSI has also been instrumental in closing the purchase of four projects from SunEdison, two of which have been subsequently repackaged and sold to other investors as turnkey operations much like the TransCanada deal. They have also signed con- tractual commitments to sell another 13 projects to end buyers, while retaining the engineering, pro- curement and construction contracts and opera- tions and management contracts for those projects. "I've always tried to keep as much as possible in- house — it's always been my goal to keep legal costs down and only use external counsel where abso- lutely necessary," says John Marner, director, legal services with Canadian Solar. "As a public compa- ny we're under pressure to get projects done by the end of each quarter of each year so getting them done effi ciently is extremely important to us." Their legal team (consisting of only two in- house lawyers) manages all the EPC and O&M agreements and supplier agreements in-house, and works with selected external counsel to manage all other contracts as required. The team has developed a streamlined meth- odology for putting deals together by developing extremely close working relationships with both their commercial and fi nance teams. This focus on highest and best use of the in- house legal resources in association with a cost- effective use of external counsel has enhanced the management of CSI's legal budget over a highly active period of business transactions. "Because there was so much complexity to it we needed someone with more experience than I did on large scale construction projects," says Marner. "Dan Ferguson at WeirFoulds LLP came into play and was critical in this particular project. "We want the right people on these fi les and we will always insist on putting a senior person on the fi le only where it's necessary." KEEPInG THE DEAL In-HOUSE BY JENNIFER BROWN 'I've always tried to keep as much as possible in- house — it's always been my goal to keep legal costs down.' John Marner, director, legal services James Gittens, legal manage r catEgory: In-House Deals dEpartmEnt siZE: Small company: Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. saNDRa stRaNgEMORE

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