Lucía Hurtado Merediz

Counsel

Lucia Hurtado is a Legal Counsel at Renewable Power Capital, with responsibility for assisting in structuring, negotiating, and advising on legal matters, with particular focus on regulatory issues. Prior to joining RPC, Lucia spent more than 5 years at Linklaters (based in Madrid) in the public law and regulated sectors department, starting as a junior associate and being promoted to Senior Associate. During this time, she contributed advising, both Spanish and international clients, in M&A, finance, projects and cross-border deals in areas with a strong regulatory component, notably on renewable energy-related facilities, and providing regulatory advice on those sectors.

Lucia holds a double degree in Law and Business from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (class of 2012) and a five-year preparation to become State Attorney (Abogado del Estado), acquiring a broad knowledge on private and public law matters. 


What’s your role at RPC?

I am a lawyer here at RPC. This means that, liaising with our external legal counsels, I am responsible for advising, drafting and reviewing, from a legal perspective, any kind of agreements, contracts, papers and documents which are or may be legally binding for RPC; such as NDAs, SPA, development agreements, framework agreements, PPAs, EPC, BoP, services agreements, etc. Additionally, I oversee the day-to-day secretarial work involving all the Spanish companies within the RPC group.

What’s a typical working day for you?

I start every day checking my to do list and any meetings or conference calls scheduled. Right after, I do a quick search across media and the Spanish official legal gazzetes, to stay up to speed on any upcoming or new regulations passed which may have an impact on the business plan and strategies of RPC.

Then I spend the rest of the day delivering any legal advice, whether that be drafting and/or reviewing agreements or contracts, catching up with other peers (specially development and construction teams) on any legal/regulatory advice required or reaching out to our external legal counsels in relation to any potential or ongoing deals, transactions or negotiations.

One of the things I like best at RPC is the variety of work involved, allowing myself to keep active and motivated, and getting a real sense of what other RPC teams or co-workers may need to avoid or minimise any legal implications for them, the portfolio and the whole RPC group.

What have you found during your time at RPC?

I made a decision early in my career to focus on any legal or regulatory work related to renewables, especially solar and wind. Hence after a few years working in the private sector, as part of the regulatory team of an international and well-known law firm, I decided it was time for a change. My time here as an in-house lawyer has shown me that this company was a natural fit and that I can offer a 360 legal counselling to all RPC co-workers, internal committees, and partners. I believe we are all doing great work taking us that bit closer to meet our goals, objectives and growth strategy.

What’s your proudest career moment?

I have been part of the deal team in charge of the first sale of a portfolio of projects to a third party, demonstrating what we've stated since the beginning of RPC - value creation from investment to development stage.

Additionally, I have elaborated a piece of work summarising the Spanish regulatory and permitting framework applicable to renewable energy projects; which highlights any steps or risks that require immediate attention when entering into a new deal in Spain.

What do you do in your spare time?

Spending time with my husband and kids and catching up with friends.

Also, in the winter, I love skiing and in summer, spending time by the pool or luckily, at the beach

Where’s your favourite place in Europe?

Although I have travelled a lot, all around Europe, I believe Spain is my favourite country with my heart divided between Asturias (in the north) and Cádiz (in the south). In Asturias you have the greenest sightseeing in Spain, incredible homes and traditional cooking, whereas in Cádiz you have the sun, the most amazing beaches and the best food, especially fried fish.

What’s your favourite clean technology and why?

Solar, as from a legal and regulatory perspective it's the one I know best. Also, it is the one you can see the most while travelling by car all over Spain!