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Dickstein Shapiro LLP is internationally recognized as one of the premier law firms in the energy industry by publications such as Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and The Best Lawyers in America, and its team of experienced attorneys and energy professionals is well suited to handle the unique issues confronting developers of wind, solar, hydroelectric, biomass, and other renewable energy sources. Dickstein Shapiro regularly represents its energy clients, which include renewable energy project developers, merchant generators and transmission companies, marketers, investor-owned utilities, and trade associations, before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the various state public service commissions throughout the United States. In particular, firm attorneys have considerable experience representing clients in FERC’s market development and operation initiatives; its development and implementation of open-access transmission policies and interconnection procedures; and its marketing, monitoring, compliance, and enforcement activities. The firm is active in all regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and in those areas of the country where there are independent system operators (ISOs).

Dickstein Shapiro also counsels its energy clients with respect to renewable portfolio standards (RPS); federal loan programs; tax credits; power sales arrangements; equipment, procurement, and construction agreements; rate filings; compliance with the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) and the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA); regulations relating to exempt wholesale generators; and legislative and executive branch matters concerning the energy industry.

Wind

Dickstein Shapiro’s Energy Practice is at the forefront of the burgeoning wind power sector and this sector’s efforts to develop, construct, finance, and sell wind energy. The firm advises the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the leading trade association of wind energy developers and operators, and an ever-increasing number of clients engaged in wind power development or in acquiring wind generation assets. The firm guides its clients through all phases of project development and provides advice with respect to transmission and power markets, as well as the unique business and regulatory challenges confronted by the owners and operators of wind generation. The firm has actively been involved before FERC in all wind-related interconnection and transmission rulemakings and other initiatives. The firm also represents its clients before FERC with respect to market-based rate tariffs, transfers of jurisdictional facilities, and other regulatory filings under the Federal Power Act (FPA) and exempt wholesale generator determinations under the PUHCA.

In addition, Dickstein Shapiro advises clients on how best to take advantage of market opportunities and regulations associated with renewable portfolio standards. One of Dickstein Shapiro’s partners is a former board member and officer of the Emissions Marketing Association, a professional trade group that advocates efficient markets for implementing renewable portfolio standards. The firm also monitors environmental trading markets and has considerable experience with the allocation of environmental attributes, including renewable energy credits associated with renewable generation.

Representative Wind Projects

The following projects are representative of Dickstein Shapiro’s wind energy experience. Firm attorneys have represented and counseled: 

• Titan Wind, LLC (Clipper Windpower Development Company, Inc.), in connection with interconnection of HVDC generation tie and interconnected generation projects with PJM;
• AWEA, in providing advice for numerous issues, including comments and recommendations in FERC’s Docket No. RM05-17, Preventing Undue Discrimination and Preference in Transmission Service (Order No. 890); 
• BP, in connection with its proposed investment in various U.S. wind farms; 
• Chermac Energy Corporation, in connection with an application of SPP utilities requesting to terminate their requirement to purchase energy from qualifying facilities (QFs); 
• CPV Cimarron Renewable Energy Company, LLC in connection with power sales from its 200.1 MW wind-powered electrical generation facility in Kansas;
• CPV Keenan I Renewable Energy Company, in an EPC contract with The Delaney Group for phase I of the Keenan wind project as well as an equipment supply agreement with Siemens Energy, Inc.;
• CPV Keenan II Renewable Energy Company, LLC in connection with power sales from its 151.8 MW wind-powered electrical generation facility in Oklahoma;
• CPV Keenan II Renewable Energy Company, in an EPC contract with The Delaney Group for phase II of the Keenan wind project as well as an equipment supply agreement with Siemens Energy, Inc.;
• CPV Renewable Energy Company, LLC and various wind generation subsidiaries, in connection with all aspects of their wind energy development program, including the closing of a funding and development agreement to support the development of 3,600 MW of wind generation projects in various markets, the negotiation of wind power purchase agreements, the implementation of Competitive Renewable Energy Zones in Texas, the sale of certain wind energy development projects, and various regulatory compliance and regional transmission organization (RTO) market initiatives;
• CPV Renewable Energy Company, LLC in connection with the sale of its Cimarron II 131.1 MW wind-powered electrical generation facility in Gray County, Kansas.
• E.On Climate and Renewables, US, in providing advice for various wind energy projects, including guidance on development activities and transactions involving the purchase and sale of renewable energy credits associated with these projects; 
• EverPower Wind Holdings, Inc., in connection with the development, licensing, permitting, and interconnection of the Big Savage wind farm project’s associated transmission facilities in PJM Interconnection; 
• Horizon Wind Energy LLC, in connection with the negotiation of renewable energy purchase, interconnection, and facility construction agreements, as well as transmission access, pricing and cost allocation issues, and preparing comments regarding changes to FERC policies on wind power development; 
• Iberdrola Renewables, in a complaint with the FERC, pursuant to Section 206 of the FPA, to obtain a refund of certain unauthorized transmission use charges; 
• Invenergy’s wind generation subsidiaries in connection with: negotiations of interconnection agreements; obtaining FERC authorizations under Section 205 of the FPA for wholesale power sales under market-based rates and shared interconnection facilities arrangements together with waivers from FERC’s open access transmission requirements; obtaining exempt wholesale generator status under the PUHCA; and obtaining authorizations under Section 203 of the FPA for upstream ownership changes including the acquisition of equity interests by passive investors; 
• McKenzie Bay International, Ltd., in the development and structuring of its corporate, commercial, and regulatory arrangements for marketing its inside-the-fence vertical axis wind turbine and energy storage systems and in negotiating a master agreement for the sale of renewable energy certificates;
• NaturEner USA LLC, in FERC proceedings relating to a merchant transmission provider’s Open Access Transmission Tariff; 
• Novelution Windpower LLC, in the development of a 100 MW wind farm in Chugwater, Wyoming; 
• Renewable Energy Systems Americas (RES Americas), in a complaint proceeding alleging discriminatory conduct by transmission owners against wind projects seeking interconnection in North Dakota;
• RES Americas and Invenergy, in connection with the Midwest ISO’s proposed allocation of interconnection-related network upgrades; 
• SkyPower and Terrawinds, in their development of a 201 MW Rivière-du-Loup wind project in Quebec, including negotiating the turbine supply agreement, operations and maintenance agreements, and other agreements and in connection with disputes associated with F/X currency swaps that used standard International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreements; 
• Spartan Renewable Energy, Inc., in the negotiation of renewable energy retail sales agreements; 
• Texas Wind Power/Cielo Windpower, in the development, financing, and sale to Shell of the 80 MW White Deer wind energy project in West Texas, in the sale of the 160 MW Brazos Wind Ranch project in Texas, and in the financing and sale of development assets related to the 278 MW King Mountain Wind Ranch in Texas; and
• Zemer Energia S.A. de C.V., in connection with the development of a 500 MW wind project in Mexico for delivery and sale into United States markets. 

In addition, Dickstein Shapiro has represented and counseled multiple clients on QF requirements and related state regulatory proceedings; transmission access and pricing issues associated with the construction of transmission network upgrades to facilitate the development of wind generating projects in the SPP and Midwest ISO regions; interconnection queue reform initiatives; RTO rules regarding the capacity accreditation, cost allocation, and congestion management; and regulatory issues associated with the New York ISO tariff exemption from generator imbalance and persistent undergeneration penalties. 

Solar

Dickstein Shapiro advises developers and operators of utility-scale and distributed-generation solar energy projects in all aspects of project development and operation, including renewable portfolio standards, interconnection and transmission requirements, net metering, utility procurement, and all agreements required to establish, develop, and finance such projects. The practice also advises clients in the creation of form agreements, including PPAs, EPCs, and various services agreements, and guides solar power companies in their evaluation and responses to RFPs. The firm has represented and counseled:

• Constellation Energy Commodities Group, in connection with the negotiation of an agreement to purchase energy and renewable energy credits from a solar facility; 
• Constellation Energy Projects & Services Group, Inc., in connection with multiple solar power installations and sales agreements and related net- metering arrangements; 
• Maricopa Solar, LLC, in connection with the development of its 1.5 MW reference plant in Arizona; 
• One of the nation’s largest energy trading companies in the negotiation of an agreement to purchase all of the energy output and environmental attributes from a 10 MW roof top solar facility to be located in New Jersey; 
• Calico Solar, LLC, as project counsel for the development of an 850 MW solar project in southern California, including the negotiation of two PPAs with Southern California Edison as well as a larger generator interconnection agreement; 
• Tessera Solar North America, as project counsel in connection with a 250 MW project in California selling output to a California utility; 
• Tessera Solar North America, in the development of utility-scale solar facilities in connection with its strategy and responses to numerous utility RFPs for renewable energy and attributes in the western United States; and 
• The developer of a solar facility to be located in New York, including the negotiation of agreements for the sale of energy output and environmental attributes.

Hydroelectric

Dickstein Shapiro has successfully counseled hydroelectric clients in a variety of regulatory and transactional matters related to the development, relicensing, purchasing, and sales from and sales of hydroelectric projects. In the context of hydroelectric projects, the firm calls upon its extensive experience in dealing with FERC, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other federal, state, and local agencies. The following are examples of the firm’s hydroelectric regulatory experience:

• Counseled various clients on regulatory issues associated with new and potential ownership of major FERC hydroelectric projects, including license conditions relating to water intake and land required to be owned by the project;
• Counseled clients on regulatory issues associated with the surrender of hydroelectric projects; 
• Counseled a client on ways to enhance the value of its hydroelectric project while minimizing regulatory burdens and remaining within the limits of existing license conditions; advised on regulatory options and requirements associated with replacing inoperable project works; and prepared various market power and other regulatory filings associated with the hydroelectric project; and 
• Represented a new owner of a hydroelectric company in successfully reinstating a dam operating exemption, which had been revoked, from FERC.

Hydroelectric Transactions

The following matters are representative of the firm’s transactional experience with respect to hydroelectric projects. Dickstein Shapiro attorneys have represented:

• Algonquin Power Income Fund, in connection with its proposed acquisition of hydroelectric power assets in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States;
• Allegheny Energy, Inc., in lease financings and litigation matters involving two hydroelectric plants. The firm’s representation involved negotiations regarding a hydro-plant lease financing and an eventual sale of the plant, as well as litigation concerning hydro-lease financing matters and FERC accounting and rate issues for two hydroelectric projects; 
• AMBAC, in its insurance of debt issued by a Native American tribe, involving off-take, operations and maintenance, interconnection, and other project agreements, as well as state and federal energy regulatory matters associated with approximately 350 MW of hydroelectric generation owned by the tribe in Oregon and in credit support analysis for a proposed desalination facility in the Northeastern United States; 
• City of Denton, Texas, in the sale of its generation assets, which included two hydroelectric plants located in Texas; 
• Covanta Energy (formerly Ogden Energy Group), as a bidder for a substantial asset purchase from Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, including its hydroelectric plants; 
• Covanta Energy, in connection with its proposed development and investment in two hydroelectric projects in Turkey; 
• Constellation Energy Group, Inc., in conducting due diligence as a potential bidder for the purchase of a New England power company’s hydroelectric generation assets; 
• Equitable Resources, Inc., as the purchaser of hydroelectric projects in Costa Rica; 
• Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), in its participation in the bond financing of six hydroelectric projects developed by Harrison Hydro, a subsidiary of Cloudworks Energy in British Columbia (C$500 million); 
• Finch Pruyn, in connection with power sales from its 32 MW biomass-fired cogeneration facility and six hydroelectric facilities; 
• Hydro Kennebec L.P., in disputes and amendments to its power sales arrangements with Central Maine Power Corporation; 
• Kentucky Hydro Holdings, LLC, in connection with EPC contracts regarding two large hydroelectric facilities; 
• KeySpan Corporation, as a bidder for the purchase of The Connecticut Light and Power Company’s generation assets, including its hydroelectric plants; 
• KeySpan Corporation, as a bidder for the purchase of a substantial portfolio of hydroelectric plants in upstate New York; 
• Lawrence Hydro, the very first QF; 
• Little Falls Hydroelectric Associates, in connection with regulatory matters and sales of power and renewable energy credits associated with its 18 MW hydroelectric facility in New York; 
• State of North Carolina, in connection with hydro-licensing matters related to a water-supply project for the city of Virginia Beach opposed by the State of North Carolina; 
• TransCanada PipeLines Limited, in its acquisition of a New York hydroelectric plant; and 
• West Delaware Hydro Associates, in negotiating with Central Hudson Electric Corporation the power sales, renewable energy credit sales, and interconnection agreements for a large New York conduit hydroelectric facility.

Additional Renewable Energy Capabilities

• Biotechnology Industry Organization, in counseling on climate change legislation and on proposals to encourage production of biofuels and bioproducts and the use of bioprocesses; 
• BioFuel Solutions, LLC, an ethanol project development company, in connection with development financing and ownership and control arrangements; 
• Clean Green Energy LLC, in developing and financing the first inside-the-meter renewable energy and efficiency project in Nevada, for ten schools in the Clark County (Las Vegas) School System: and 
• Transgreen Energy Inc., in developing and financing a 600 ton per day solid waste plasma gasification project in Wexford County, Michigan.