Renewable Energy
Sonnenschein attorneys have been active in the forefront of renewable energy policy for more than a decade, playing key roles in development of federal and state renewable energy rules. We also have helped clients respond to significant regulatory and enforcement challenges arising out of the unique characteristics of renewable power production processes.
We have broad experience representing lenders, developers and operators of wind, solar, hydropower, ocean wave, biomass, and biogas energy projects. We also regularly support developers of biofuel refineries. Our renewable energy practice, integrated among our Public Law & Policy Strategies, Corporate and Construction practice groups, spans the country and includes expertise in every stage of project development and operation. Our team is highly entrepreneurial, and includes a partner who built a successful wind and hydropower development business.
Areas of Focus:
Project Finance, Tax Strategy and Deal Structure
Sonnenschein attorneys have supported clients in many project finance arrangements. Our experience includes creating and implementing a variety of financing and investor relationships for renewable energy and renewable fuel plants. These may include bonds, leases, sale-leaseback arrangements and other ownership and investment structures. We also are experienced in monetizing the environmental attributes of renewable energy, which may have substantial value and provide critical additional revenue. Our experience includes advising market-leading investment fund managers, hedge funds, investment advisors, and other financial professionals on renewable energy and fuels policy.
Our attorneys are sensitive to the unique tax ramifications of renewable energy projects. We therefore provide tax counsel as an integrated part of our other services related to transactions, developments, and governmental functions generally, rather than as a separate discipline. Our attorneys have counseled Clients in negotiations with state authorities, crafting the provisions of intergovernmental tax agreements where applicable and tax incentives packages.
Sonnenschein is nationally recognized for its tax-advantaged investing experience, specializing in the representation of investors, guarantors, sponsors, syndicators, developers and lenders in all aspect of tax credit transactions, including energy tax credits such as renewable (solar, wind, biomass) electricity credits under the Internal Revenue Code. Sonnenschein attorneys have extensive experience in the issues involved in combining energy credits with LIHTC or NMTC transactions. Sonnenschein offers nationwide depth and expertise in these areas and is among the country’s preeminent tax credit and community development law firm.
Project Regulation and Siting Experience
Sonnenschein has a leading environmental regulatory practice. We understand how the interplay of environmental, land use, policy, tax and other regulatory factors influence energy facility siting and operational success. Our experience includes:
- Representing a leading European solar energy developer with projects in the West and Mid-Atlantic.
- Serving as U.S. counsel to the leading developer of ocean wave energy technology, including project siting, IP, corporate, and legislative matters.
- Representing the nation's leading wind energy developer in a precedent-setting offshore wind project in New York, including creation of a comprehensive federal regulatory strategy.
- Counseling a major biomass energy developer in Minnesota on transactional, regulatory, and legislative measures to secure the economic benefit of renewable energy credits.
- Lobbying Congress on behalf of an Ohio-based manufacturer of wind turbine components.
- Developing the legislative strategy for enactment of California's Clean Cars Act.
- Obtaining regulatory approval of a Missouri utility company's comprehensive energy plan that includes 200 megawatts of wind generation.
- Advising the developer of a Texas silvicultural carbon sequestration project on steps to maximize potential credits through integrated methane reduction strategy.
- Counseling Mid-Atlantic and other hydropower licensees on all aspects of FERC relicensing process, including traditional, alternative and integrated licensing procedures, shoreline management, and security.
- Representing a Northeastern hydropower project stakeholder in multi-year negotiations leading to comprehensive settlement with a licensee.
- Supporting a Texas investor in due diligence of proposed integrated wind and natural gas development in New Mexico.
- Representing a California geothermal power producer in connection with criminal and civil investigations over alleged improper disposal of production wastes.
- Representing a biomass (rice hulls and straw) power producer in connection with the regulation of the facility's high silica content production waste stream.
- Representing a wood waste power production facility in a dispute over compliance with air emissions requirements.
- Helping form North America's leading emissions credit trading association.
- Securing the first 1605(b) recognition for emission reductions created by grid-wide displacement of high-emitting generation sources.
- Advising numerous industrial and commercial clients on LEED certification, including extensive support to one of the world's leading botanical research facilities.
- Counseling developers of ethanol and biodiesel refineries on financing, siting, construction and permitting issues, representing total investments well in excess of $1 billion.
- Advising clients on agreements for federal and state incentives for development of sites into alternative energy projects.
- Counseling clients on early stage investment into commercially viable cellulosic ethanol technology ventures.
- Counseling clients on later stage investment into genetically modified plant production facilities.
Construction and Development
Sonnenschein's construction practice is a first-rate resource for the renewable energy industry. Choosing and securing an appropriate site is among the most significant aspects of renewable energy and fuel projects. The immediate economic development incentives and entitlements must be combined with longer term location issues, which often turn on environmental considerations. Sonnenschein lawyers have extensive experience in the following areas:
- Screening of sites for environmental considerations that might impede or expedite permitting reviews
- Property and sales tax relief, and federal tax credits
- Specific plant-related incentives such as improvements and local government support
- State workforce development and economic development grants
- Planning and zoning approvals
- Shipping and off-take agreements
- Grower agreements
- Potential opportunities for monetizing the environmental attributes of a project
- Co-location of biofuel facilities and the interconnection of project improvements
- Development of codes administration agreements between the ownership entity and the local government
- Professional Services Agreements, including letters of intent and/or memoranda of understanding
- Licensing agreements by technological providers of equipment and/or processing design
- Work orders for pre-construction engineering activities
- EPC contracting
- Biofuel technology licensing agreements
- Joint ownership, maintenance and operational agreements
- Other professional, construction and design agreements relating to site suitability and development
Protection of Renewable Energy Technologies
Our Intellectual Property lawyers are regularly consulted by leaders on the cutting edge of alternative energy, bio-genomics and environmental innovation. With experienced patent lawyers, including a number with Ph.D.s in fields directly related to the "green revolution", such as botany and molecular biology, and others with related engineering expertise, we regularly deal with promoting and protecting innovations as to environmentally advanced energy sources, including photovoltaics, ethanol and biodiesel production.
Our lawyers are and have been involved in a range of cutting-edge energy conservation initiatives, including water-saving measures in commercial cleaning applications, fuel savings through precision monitoring of motor vehicle tire pressure, and computer chip and other electronics designs—to name only a few.
- Sonnenschein lawyers have extensive experience in the following areas:
- Patent and trademark protection in the U.S. and every major foreign market
- Development of comprehensive intellectual property strategies to create and demonstrate significant value for early stage companies in renewable energy and cleantech
- Freedom-to-operate searching and analysis
- Advice regarding product and process design to avoid third-party patent rights
- Negotiation of agreements providing access to enabling technologies
- Out-licensing of technology rights to add value
- Enforcement of intellectual property rights
Climate Change Policy
Global climate change presents an array of risks, challenges and opportunities to business, government, and non-government organizations. Sonnenschein has the comprehensive and creative expertise necessary to help our clients avoid risk, meet challenges and seize opportunities.
We use a multidisciplinary approach that allows us to help our clients anticipate, shape and respond to the many emerging regulatory and market changes being driven by climate change. Sonnenschein's team has been working on climate change issues for over a quarter of a century. Among other profession-leading strengths, our Public Law & Policy Strategies Practice enables us to carry our clients' interests into the heart of the climate policy debate on Capitol Hill and in state capitols from coast to coast.
Climate change policy is now taking center stage in Congress and throughout the U.S. For corporations, trade associations and nonprofits, successfully advancing climate-related policy and business agendas will depend on having access to accurate political and regulatory intelligence, and knowing how best to leverage that information. We are recognized as a leading resource for timely guidance, substantive counsel and—most importantly—excellent results in Congress, agencies and statehouses across the country, and particularly in California.
Our diverse practice of lawyers and policy professionals offers clients comprehensive political experience earned working in high-profile federal, state and local political positions. Our bipartisan national team of public policy specialists includes a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the former head of White House Legislative Affairs, a former congressman, top legal officials of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, congressional office chiefs of staff and veteran political strategists. That team is now involved in the legislative debate on federal legislation.
As California is wont to do in environmental matters, it passed the first legislation to address climate change issues, the "Clean Cars Bill", in 2002. That legislation led to AB 32 (also known as the Global Warming Solutions Act), adopted in 2006, which sets forth an ambitious program to establish requirements for stationary sources. A member of our Climate Change Group served as the strategist for the environmental coalition that sponsored the Clean Cars Bill and has been helping to shape climate change policy in California ever since.
We remain on the forefront of this area of law, and continue to be involved in monitoring and affecting the development of that regulatory program and these issues. As a result, we are in a unique position to help our clients develop and maintain relationships with key government and environmental leaders, provide critical tools to help successfully navigate the political/governmental waters in California, and help develop strategic messages.
Nearly every climate change initiative under consideration, whether in Congress, California, or the Northeastern states (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or “RGGI”) includes a plan for a “cap and trade” system using some form of “carbon credits” set as the equivalent to a metric ton of carbon dioxide. Sonnenschein lawyers have extensive experience in setting up and implementing cap and trade systems of this type. Sonnenschein also has more than 20 years of expertise in emission trading. We helped establish North America’ s leading emissions credit trading association, and have substantial expertise in most of the markets for emission credits, including the NOx trading programs, the VOC trading program for Northeastern Illinois, the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s RECLAIM Program, and EPA’s NOx SIP call trading program. In addition, we have substantial expertise in drafting and negotiating emission trading contracts.
Sonnenschein lawyers have nationwide experience in the development, implementation and enforcement of air quality rules on both the federal and state levels. We have also assisted clients in the preparation and negotiation of a wide variety of construction and operating permits. Future carbon control requirements are likely to include similar permitting and control measures.
