About

Team size: approximately 25

What are the most important transactions, litigations or other major projects that you have been involved in during the last year?

During the last year we have been working on our carve out, Siemens Energy became a separate listed company and we are now listed on the Dax. This is a massive result as it happened in the first six months of the listing. This ensured that we divided the Siemens legal and compliance team in a responsible way, making sure we had the right skills on board for both the remaining Siemens entity as well as Siemens Energy.

We have managed to build up a new Siemens legal team and have been remarkably successful as everything had to be done virtually. Having to work together under these VUCA circumstances has made us strong. Meanwhile the business continued and we are focussing on our Siemens Energy strategy, with many major projects in transmission, generation, industrial applications and new energy business.

Some of the projects included Keadby 2 Power Station, 840MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant developed in North Lincolnshire. This developed as one of the cleanest and most efficient gas fired power stations in Europe developed by SSE. The team also worked on the Triton Knoll project owned by RWE and partners. Offshore construction started in January 2020 and is taking place 20 miles of the cost of Lincolnshire, and the onshore construction began in September 2018. Siemens Energy is responsible for design, supply and build of the onshore substation and offshore transformer modules. Triston Knoll is the tenth offshore windfarm Siemens Energy has connected to the mainland. After completion it is set to provide sufficient clean and sustainable power for the equivalent of 800 British homes. There is also the Moray project, which was secured in 2018 and in 2020 we have been working on the final commissioning of the offshore substation platforms for the Moray East offshore wind project in Scotland. Siemens Energy has completed the installation of the onshore cabling for the 950MW Moray East offshore windfarm. The onshore cables take the power generated offshore from three 220kV subsea cables and delivers it to the new onshore substation at New Dear via more than 300 thousand meters of HV cable laid across a 34.5 km route. We have been working on hydrogen projects for the New Energy business and our UK team works internationally on the supply of small and large gas turbines across the world.

Just before the summer I returned back to the Netherlands where we have set up Siemens Gas and Power Holding, the holding company for around 100 subsidiaries across the world. We also incorporated Siemens Energy Finance that will be providing finance arrangements for our projects worldwide. I have been appointed to the board of the operational legal entities for Siemens Energy in the UK and also on the boards of our holding and finance companies in the Netherlands.

What were the main difficulties your company faced during the initial Covid lockdown?

Undoubtedly our ways of working post-Covid will have changed. We have learned that we are agile, that we are very flexible and able to work remotely. We are looking forward to be able to meet in person on projects again with each other and with the business. We will be able to judge much better what work needs in-person meetings and what work can be done more effectively remotely.

Despite Covid hitting us, we managed to stay focused and did not deviate from the original deadlines and plans. Covid has been tough for many as it had a massive legal impact in terms of our contractual situation both towards our customers and suppliers. At the same time, we were preparing for Brexit, so it was a year with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.