Renewable and Alternative Energy
We aspire to become the law firm of choice for integrated legal solutions in the rapidly evolving renewable and alternative energy sector. We have researched the market, inquired of industry leaders how we may best serve their legal needs, and are implementing a unique approach to how we provide such services.
Alston & Bird’s experience in renewable and alternative energy dates from the earliest years of the business. The firm recognized the potential of a combination of technology advances, a rapidly increasing cost structure for conventional energy and the twin policy drivers of energy security and climate change to transform dramatically the energy sector and the legal services provided to that sector. Alston & Bird has organized its Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice on an integrated basis, assembling in one group all disciplines necessary to meet the needs of our renewable and alternative energy clients. We believe that our industry-centered approach is unique among law firms, and critical to effectively meeting the needs of our clients in this dramatically evolving sector.
OUR SERVICES
Our Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice focuses on four areas of service:
Project Development and Finance
An energy infrastructure practice is at its heart a project development and finance practice. The members of our Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice have extensive experience in the project development and financing of conventional energy projects, beginning with domestic cogeneration power projects in the 1980s and continuing with emerging market IPPs in the 1990s and merchant power project development and financing at the end of the last decade. Our lawyers have played leading roles in refining, LNG liquefaction and regasification projects and gas storage and trading transactions. In the past six years, we have built one of the leading renewable and alternative energy projects practices in the country, with a particular focus on the wind, ethanol, biomass, solar and coal to liquids sectors. We also have substantial experience with Kyoto compliance transactions throughout the world and represent one of the largest London based carbon funds in this capacity. Our project development and finance work draws on other core competencies of the firm where we have established prominent national and international practices, including energy regulation, land use and permitting, environmental compliance and tax equity monetization. Alston & Bird attorneys are highly experienced in structuring and negotiating the full range of documentation required for renewable and alternative energy projects. In addition to financing documents, our experience encompasses agreements related to joint venture and development, construction and turbine supply, operations and maintenance, fuel supply, offtake, commodity hedging, transmission, REC sales and tax credit monetization.
Energy Policy and Regulation
Alston & Bird has assembled one of the premier policy teams in Washington to ensure that our clients will have effective representation in the current energy policy debate and a clear understanding of how that debate is likely to affect their businesses and their projects at a state, federal and international level. Our Energy Policy Practice, which is a fully integrated part of our Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice, is led by Senators Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, both U.S. Senate Majority Leaders who have had deep involvement in the policy aspects of the energy business for their entire careers. Senators Daschle and Dole were key authors of the legislation that made today’s renewable energy industry possible, and continue to be actively involved in a range of energy policy issues, including those related to climate change, federal and state renewable fuel and renewable portfolio standards, transmission and federal grants and tax incentives. They are supported by a policy advocacy group led by Jon Chase, formerly a senior legislative advisor at AWEA, with longstanding involvement in the energy sector, both inside and outside government. By fully integrating the policy function into our Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice, we can assist our clients in influencing the policy debate and in anticipating how policy actions will impact their business models. Our approach also positions our project development lawyers to offer project development and finance advice that takes key legislative developments and related implementing regulations fully into account, whether involving issues of transmission access, carbon management, tax credit monetization, REC sales requirements, renewable fuel and portfolio standards and government grants or other incentives.
Policy initiatives become tangible through the adoption of regulations, and the regulatory scheme applicable to the renewable and alternative energy sector is particularly complex and comprehensive. Alston & Bird is fortunate in having one of the leading energy regulatory practices in the country. Our energy regulatory attorneys are deeply experienced with the full range of issues involving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the regional transmission organizations (including NEPOOL, PJM, the New York ISO, the California ISO, the Midwest ISO and ERCOT) that can critically impact project viability and economics.
Carbon Management and Finance
Alston & Bird has one of the leading carbon management groups in the world, with deep and unique experience in the development and implementation of the full range of greenhouse gas risk management and monetization strategies. These lawyers are integral to our Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice. The range of services provided by our carbon group includes risk consultation, carbon finance and trading, legislative and regulatory advocacy and project development. We represent both existing energy companies active in this space, as well as new enterprises that have been specifically organized to exploit trading and development opportunities in carbon mitigation and capture. We have unique experience in matters related to carbon capture and storage (CCS), widely perceived to be one of the most promising carbon management technologies. We provide carbon management strategic advice to airline, CCS companies and major oil and coal companies.
Our carbon management group has been active from the beginning of the carbon market in assisting our clients in the trading of carbon credit assets in the United States, the EU and other jurisdictions. We have also pioneered techniques for incorporating the value of carbon emission reductions in the financing of infrastructure projects, recognizing that carbon related cash flows can often make the difference between a project that can be financed and one that cannot. Our experience includes the negotiation of Emission Reduction Purchase Agreements under the CDM and the representation of buyers and sellers of credits on a bilateral and exchange basis. Ensuring the integrity, and thus legal validity, of these credits is critical and one of the key services provided by our carbon management group. Within the carbon space, for example, we recently closed the first stage financing for a major run-of-the-river hydropower project in Peru funded largely by Kyoto carbon credits. This is one of the largest project finance transactions of its type completed to date and incorporates one of the largest CER offtake arrangements ever structured under the clean development mechanism. We have represented the same investor in precedent-setting landfill projects and coal bed methane projects in the United States and abroad involving credit facilities for both CERs and voluntary credits.
Our carbon management group has also done pioneering work in the structuring and sale of commodity CO2. For example, we are one of the leading firms assisting in the commercialization of coal-to-liquids technology whereby anthropogenic carbon dioxide streams are sold for use in oil recovery applications. Effective participation in this market requires a thorough understanding of the array of regulatory considerations that create unique risks and opportunities for commodity CO2 assets. Our carbon management group represents the major trade advocacy organization active in the space. That organization, in turn, has helped to spur the launch of the North American Carbon Capture & Storage Association.
On the policy front, Alston & Bird has accepted an appointment from President Clinton’s Global Initiative through the Center for American Progress to support the development of CDM projects in developing countries and our lawyers serve regularly as expert commentators on various scientific and policy publications, most recently in connection with the Discussion Paper for the Second Annual International Energy Agency/Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum Workshop on the Legal Aspects of Storing Carbon Dioxide. We are routinely asked to peer review legal and policy papers worldwide on topics such as carbon management and CCS.
Energy Technology
The Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice at Alston & Bird includes a number of lawyers who are highly experienced in providing the services required by technology companies in the renewable and alternative energy sector. These services cover the full scope of venture investing, from the structuring of early seed capital through later stage funding rounds and IPOs. We have one of the leading intellectual property practices in the country. Unlike many law firm technology groups, which remain overwhelmingly focused on information technology and have little institutional knowledge of the energy business, our technology attorneys have made it a point to become expert in the key technologies that are driving innovation in the renewable and alternative energy sector. They are greatly assisted in this effort by being part of a fully integrated group that can systematically address the project development, policy, regulatory, carbon management and technology issues that emerging enterprises in the energy sector face. Our organizational structure makes us particularly well suited to anticipate and support the legal needs of emerging growth companies in the renewable and alternative energy sector from start-up though full commercial development.
SOLAR ENERGY PRACTICE
Alston & Bird’s Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice incorporates one of the leading solar energy practices in the United States. We were involved in several of the first utility scale solar projects in this country, transactions that have provided templates going forward. Our team represents all types of parties in a variety of transactions associated with the development and financing of solar projects, including structuring advice with respect to tax and corporate issues, permitting and interconnection advice, real property issues, EPC issues and power sales. Our lawyers have extensive experience drafting and negotiating interconnection agreements, financing documents, real estate lease and easement documents, construction agreements, service agreements, operating agreements, power purchase agreements and purchase and sale agreements with respect to environmental attributes. Former Senate majority leaders Tom Daschle and Bob Dole lead our Energy Policy Practice, which offers clients a unique understanding of the ongoing policy issues driving the solar industry sector in the years to come.
WIND ENERGY PRACTICE
The members of Alston & Bird’s Renewable and Alternative Energy Practice have extensive experience in counseling clients in all aspects of the wind energy space. Our team counsels clients throughout the wind energy development and finance process, including with respect to permitting concerns, real property issues, equipment supply and BOP issues, power sales and interconnection issues, and we are experienced in drafting and negotiating the full range of documentation relevant to developing and financing wind projects. Under the leadership of Senator Tom Daschle, we have developed substantial experience in the development of projects sited on tribal lands. We have been involved in some of the major acquisitions in the wind energy sector, and our group excels at counseling clients through all phases of both the single asset and pipeline acquisition process, from due diligence to drafting, negotiation and closing. Alston & Bird has developed a cutting edge practice in the area of wind turbine procurement, focusing on the structuring of frame supply agreements that allow unprecedented optionality and utilization flexibility to turbine purchasers. Our team has been involved with the acquisition of over 2,000 MW of wind turbines in the past 18 months and has extensive experience with most of the international suppliers. Our wind energy transactional lawyers are supported by attorneys from other practice areas in the firm with a depth of knowledge in all key areas of wind energy development and finance, including our environmental and energy regulatory, real estate, federal and state tax, and energy policy practices.