Renewable Energy

SPR advises clients on a diverse array of renewable energy matters, including renewable energy project development, renewable energy project and portfolio M&A, debt and equity financings, strategic planning, and environmental impact reviews. The Firm’s experience ranges from offshore wind and solar to battery storage systems and electric vehicle charging. Especially with financial and regulatory incentives like the federal Inflation Reduction Act, renewable energy projects are increasingly built on properties with complex environmental histories, allowing SPR to draw upon its expertise with brownfield cleanup programs and site remediation generally, for our energy clients.

Project Development and Contracting

The Firm assists renewable energy developers in performing due diligence for site acquisition through the entitlement and project development stages. This work draws on SPR’s long-standing experience with transactional, permitting, land use, municipal law, and environmental impact review matters. SPR further advises on site control issues, including site acquisition and leasing, access for transmission and distribution rights, and title and general real estate due diligence, as well as on federal and state tax and other credit programs that can be vital to the success of developing renewable energy projects.

SPR also provides strategic guidance to a diverse range of clients including developers, lenders, and tax equity investors in the negotiation and preparation of engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, operating and maintenance agreements, power purchase agreements (PPAs), and other agreements related to project planning, financing, and the development of renewable projects.

Project Finance

The Firm regularly represents lenders and borrowers in connection with project financing transactions for a variety of renewable energy projects.  These financing include construction loans, term loans, construction to term loans, interconnection deposit loans and tax credit bridge loans.  SPR routinely works on financings of solar, storage, geothermal, EV charging, renewable natural gas and wind projects.  The Firm has particular experience representing state green banks in various inventive debt transactions.  This has given the Firm the opportunity to create cutting-edge new financing structures that have later been adopted in the private capital markets.  The Firm also has extensive experience representing lenders in “back-leverage” transactions and other complex debt transactions involving the monetization, either through tax equity partnerships or tax credit sales, of federal tax credits, such as those available under the Inflation Reduction Act.  SPR lawyers regularly bring their skills and experience to guide their client through the challenges of distressed credits, including successfully navigating the challenges of back-leverage transactions where the sponsor has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Governmental and Nonprofit Entities

SPR has extensive experience representing and working with governmental entities and nonprofit organizations on infrastructure and energy-related projects. Notably, the Firm has represented NYSERDA on several cutting-edge renewable energy matters, including its Build Ready program, offshore wind program, the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, and its renewable energy certificate financing programs for large scale renewable energy and infrastructure projects. We serve as special counsel for environmental and energy issues to Sustainable Westchester, a nonprofit consortium of Westchester County local governments that is implementing the State’s first community choice aggregation program, which is part of the New York strategic Reforming the Energy Vision plan.

Offshore Wind