The Next Generation of Energy Disputes and the Contracts Behind Them

Overview

Presented by Young ITA

Co-Sponsored by Young Arbitrators Copenhagen

Hosted by Plesner Law Firm

Please join us for a morning of discussion and debate, followed by networking. The event is aimed at more junior practitioners but all are welcome to attend. We hope that you will be able to join us for what we are sure will be a very lively and enjoyable program.

Copenhagen is a hub for renewable energy and innovation, where wind and the energy infrastructure supporting it form part of a rapidly evolving sector – and an increasingly complex disputes landscape. As the renewable energy industry has scaled, disputes have grown in both volume and value. These disputes are often unusually complex: with projects procured across many separate contracts and jurisdictions, and interfaces fail in ways no single contract can anticipate. Held during the IBA Annual Conference week, this panel brings together Danish and international practitioners, alongside an in-house perspective, from the sector. The discussion looks first at what is driving claims in the renewable energy sector, particularly onshore and offshore wind, and then at the contractual frameworks behind them, comparing Danish standard forms with FIDIC and other international approaches.

Time: 8:30-11:00 CEST
Venue: Plesner Law Firm

#YoungITATalks is a series of local events presented around the world, featuring talks, workshops or interviews that cover a wide range of subjects relating to arbitration. The #YoungITATalks series is designed for education, conversation and sharing knowledge and experiences among young practitioners.

Thanks to the generosity of our host, this event is tuition-free and includes breakfast.

Schedule and Faculty

8:30-9:00 CEST - Registration and Breakfast

• Fabio Núñez del Prado – Young ITA representative for South America

9:00-10:30 CEST - Welcome

• Aksel Kolstad, Young ITA Nordic Co-Chair, Wikborg Rein, Oslo

The Next Generation of Energy Disputes

Energy projects are giving rise to increasingly complex disputes across a range of technologies and infrastructure. The panel will explore developments in renewable energy disputes, with a particular focus on the issues arising in onshore and offshore wind projects.

Wind projects typically involve complex contractual framework, spanning the manufacture of components at upstream production plants, their supply and installation for the turbines, O&M arrangements, electrical works and grid connection, foundations, and downstream decommissioning. Offshore wind projects add further layers of complexity, with separate contracts often covering subsea cables, offshore installation and specialist vessels. Across both, the supply chain is often international, risk allocation between stakeholders is a recurring issue, ongoing product development compounds risk, and different parts of the project may be governed by different contractual frameworks.

The first half deals with what is driving claims in renewable energy sector, particularly the wind sector, from the growing category of component supply disputes to interface risk across multi-contract procurement to weather windows and vessel availability, cable failures and delayed grid connection, and how the commercial pressures of the sector shape the way those claims are run.

The second half looks at the contractual frameworks behind these projects. Parts of a project will sit under Danish standard forms and Danish construction arbitration, others under FIDIC or comparable international forms with institutional arbitration. The panel compares the two, and considers what happens when a single failure generates claims under several regimes at once: how the Danish court-appointed expert procedure (syn og skøn) differs from party-appointed experts, the different escalation mechanisms each regime provides, and how far it is possible to keep outcomes consistent through a supply chain.

The aim is to give practitioners a working picture of how these disputes arise, how they are run, and what changes when they cross from one contractual regime into another. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A, coffee and networking.

Moderator: Regitze Aalykke Hansen, Young Arbitrators Copenhagen Board Member, Poul Schmith law firm, Copenhagen

10:30-11:00 CEST - Networking and Coffee

About the Speakers

Moderator: Regitze Aalykke Hansen
Regitze Aalykke Hansen is Advokat (H) and Senior Director at Poul Schmith, where she litigates and advises on court and arbitration proceedings in renewable energy and infrastructure projects. She appears before the ordinary courts and arbitral tribunals and is a certified arbitrator, and she acts for private clients and public authorities in the energy sector on insurance matters and complex procurement, as well as advising on the drafting and negotiation of project contracts. She has lectured on arbitration and litigation from both a Danish and an international perspective at a number of courses and seminars. She has served on the board of Young Arbitrators Copenhagen since 2021.

Panelist: Nick Angel
Nick Angel is an Australian-qualified solicitor with over twenty years' post-admission experience, currently at Siemens Gamesa, where he specialises in offshore wind from the manufacturer's side. His work covers turbine supply agreements, service and maintenance agreements, and the aftermarket. He holds a Master's in European and international law from Angers, France.

Panelist: Jonas Banke
Jonas Banke is a Manager at Plesner, where he advises on large-scale tort and contract disputes, with a particular focus on construction arbitration. He acts for Danish and international clients before the Danish Building and Construction Arbitration Board and the Danish Institute of Arbitration, as well as in commercial arbitration before international institutions including the ICC. Alongside his disputes practice he advises extensively on contracts and contract negotiation, both pre-contract and during project execution, with particular expertise in complex projects and technical deliveries across the construction, energy and infrastructure sectors. He works across a range of contractual frameworks, including FIDIC, AB/ABT/ABR, NL/NLM and ISO standards.

Panelist: Sam Moss
Sam Moss is a partner at Lalive in Zurich, and is Vice-Chair of the IBA's International Construction Projects Committee. He has close to two decades of experience acting on construction disputes arising from large-scale international projects across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, including matters concerning power plants, industrial facilities, oil and gas production facilities and marine construction. He lectures on construction contracts at the University of Fribourg, and regularly speaks and publishes on construction law issues, including on the interplay of FIDIC contracts and their governing law, risk allocation in construction contracts, and efficiency in construction arbitration. He was ranked a Global Elite Thought Leader in construction by Lexology Index in 2025, one of only six in continental Europe, and a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500.

Panelist: Asade Pourmand
Asade Pourmand is a Swedish-qualified lawyer and Managing Associate at BAHR in Oslo, where she specializes in international arbitration. She has extensive experience in energy and offshore construction disputes, including offshore wind disputes in the North Sea, and acts as counsel in high-value commercial matters under the ICC and SCC rules and in ad hoc proceedings, as well as before the Swedish courts. Having practiced in both Sweden and Norway, she brings a comparative view of how the two jurisdictions approach offshore construction, including wind farms, and the disputes arising from them. Asade holds an LL.M. in International Commercial Arbitration from Stockholm University and has previously worked at leading international arbitration practices in Paris and Geneva.

Panelist: Lucy Preston
Lucy Preston is a Director at DWF in London, where she focuses on international construction, energy and infrastructure disputes, primarily arbitration, and often acts as project counsel on live projects. She appears before the major arbitral institutions, including the ICC, LCIA and SIAC, as well as in the English courts, and has worked on cross-border matters across the Middle East, West Africa, North America and Europe. She combines her construction and energy practice to work increasingly in the renewables sector, including solar and both onshore and offshore wind, with much of that work involving front-end advisory support alongside adjudication, expert determination and mediation. She is recognised for International Arbitration by Legal 500 UK, and as a Future Leader (Non-Partner) for both Construction and Arbitration.

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