Kirkland Ellis advises on big energy deal
Kirkland Ellis advises on big energy deal with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Greenlight Electricity Centre acquisition.
Kirkland & Ellis has advised Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners on its acquisition from OPTrust, Kineticor Asset Management’s majority shareholder, of a 47.5% ownership interest in Greenlight Electricity Centre, together with MSIP’s investment in and positive final investment decision on the Alberta power project. The 7 July 2026 mandate gives Kirkland a high-value role in a transaction shaped by private infrastructure capital, artificial intelligence demand and North American power supply constraints. Greenlight Electricity Centre is planned as a 932-megawatt gas-fired combined cycle power generation facility in Sturgeon County, within the Alberta Industrial Heartland. Morgan Stanley Investment Management said MSIP is investing alongside Pembina Pipeline Corporation and Kineticor to support construction, with MSIP and Pembina each holding 47.5% and Kineticor holding the remaining 5%. The project is expected to supply electricity under a long-term agreement to a major data centre development customer building a co-located campus. Morgan Stanley said Greenlight is expected to use high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbine technology and begin supplying power in the second half of 2030.
A Growing Role for Legal Teams in Energy Projects
The transaction highlights how private infrastructure capital and rising demand for power linked to artificial intelligence are reshaping energy deals. Kirkland’s team worked on corporate, debt finance, tax, and energy regulatory aspects of the acquisition. The firm’s involvement spans multiple legal disciplines, reflecting the complexity of modern energy infrastructure projects. Kirkland’s team included corporate lawyers Rob Goodin, Allan Kirk, Daniel Cadis, Brad Johnson, Lauren Stelck, Brennon Nelson and Lucy Li; debt finance lawyers Rohit Chaudhry, Olivia George, Josh Ryu, Sarah Al Salem and Jessie Mann; tax lawyer Bill Dong; and energy regulatory lawyer Drew Stuyvenberg. Santander acted as exclusive M&A and financing adviser to MSIP, with Kirkland & Ellis and Bennett Jones acting as legal counsel to MSIP.
Pembina will act as construction and operations manager, while Kineticor, the developer behind Greenlight, will continue to provide construction support. Kirkland’s release describes the total expected project cost as $4.6 billion, although Pembina and market reporting frame the figure as C$4.6 billion, including financing costs. The project’s structure, with multiple stakeholders and a focus on long-term off-take agreements, shows the need for legal frameworks that address both the technical and financial intricacies of large-scale energy developments. The involvement of Pembina and Kineticor in construction and operations, alongside MSIP’s investment, illustrates a model where private equity, infrastructure firms, and energy developers collaborate to meet emerging power demands.
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Legal Implications for Future Projects
The deal highlights the need for legal clarity in allocating risks related to construction, financing, and regulatory compliance. Lawyers advising on similar projects may face disputes over delivery obligations, permitting, or grid connection terms once construction begins. The transaction shows how AI-driven power demand is pushing energy infrastructure work across multiple legal teams. Solicitors and in-house counsel should read the deal as a sign that data centre-linked power projects now pull acquisition terms, financing, offtake risk, tax structuring, construction governance and energy regulation into the same legal timetable. Barristers may see later disputes where delivery obligations, permitting, grid connection, fuel supply, tolling terms or delay risk become contested once construction moves from announcement to execution.
Legal practitioners advising sponsors, utilities, lenders or data centre customers should test whether project documents allocate construction, financing, regulatory and offtake risk clearly enough before positive investment decisions become binding delivery commitments. The Greenlight project’s structure may set a precedent for future power developments tied to data centers and AI infrastructure, emphasizing the integration of legal strategies across corporate, finance, tax and regulatory teams to handle the complexities of modern energy projects. The alignment of private capital with energy infrastructure in response to AI-driven demand shows a broader trend in the sector, requiring legal professionals to adapt their approaches to accommodate the evolving setting of power generation and consumption.
