Team size: 50

Head of team: Alan Daly, Group head of legal

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Our team provides legal advice and transactional support to all core areas of the business. We are ESB’s first point of call on all legal issues regarding operations in the generation, supply and transmission of electricity and also in ESB’s energy consulting business.

The team provides legal assistance and support on a wide range of legal issues, focusing on corporate and commercial law, regulatory and competition law, employment and industrial relations law, litigation and dispute resolution, commercial property, and planning and environmental law.

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

Tackling climate change was an already challenging task for our industry. This challenge has been made significantly harder by the additional turmoil caused by the energy crisis and the volatile electricity market.

The difficulties in our sector – and the initiatives deployed by our clients on an urgent basis during the year – required our in-house legal team to deliver services under extremely tight deadlines, against a changing regulatory landscape.

Has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities, and if so, how?

As we pursue our NetZero strategy, we have been made aware of ways to collectively provide a clear pathway to significant societal decarbonisation. This is by increasing renewable generation, reducing the carbon intensity of the electricity system, and using clean electricity to displace the carbon in transport, heating, and industry. Faster deployment of zero carbon electricity is also potentially one of the primary routes for delivering energy self-sufficiency in Europe.

ESB’s legal department plays a pivotal role in the delivery of ESB’s NetZero strategy; leading and advising in our areas of expertise. We advise on all elements of windfarm construction projects, the formation of joint ventures in the renewable sector, and on all property, planning, environmental, employment and competition legal issues arising in ESB’s operations in Ireland and abroad.