Capacity
Morgan Lewis combines relevant, practical industry knowledge and comprehensive legal capabilities in advising companies engaged in the explosive growth of renewable energy, clean technology, and corporate sustainability opportunities. We advise utilities, sophisticated investors, project developers, emerging businesses, and other major entities across the energy sector. Our team provides a national resource for new and mature companies in the energy industry, advising in areas such as:
- Renewable energy project development and procurement
- Project finance and tax strategies
- Venture capital and early stage financing
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Novel transactional and regulatory issues
- Securities law compliance
- Intellectual property
- Permitting and environmental issues, including climate change
- Real estate
- Employment and executive compensation strategies
Renewable Energy
Morgan Lewis provides utilities, project developers, financial institutions, investors, and entrepreneurs an array of renewable energy-related legal services and industry-specific counsel.
We provide strategic counseling to renewable energy project developers, assisting in the full range of renewable energy project development, including debt and equity financing, tax structuring, joint ventures, asset acquisition and disposition, permitting, environmental compliance, real estate and land use matters, regulatory compliance, and contractual arrangements. We help clients build strategic patent portfolios and provide advice and opinions regarding third-party intellectual property. Our wind energy attorneys have completed wind development projects in the United States totaling more than 1,700 MW of capacity, and have closed wind project financing transactions in excess of $1.6 billion.
As counsel to leading utilities around the country, we also advise clients on many issues of first impression as renewable portfolio standards and new transmission rules and reliability standards are developed and take effect. We counsel utilities on procurement of renewable energy and renewable energy credits, and we develop model power purchase agreements and other contracts for cutting-edge transactions in renewable energy markets for all major renewable energy technologies. The development of new transmission necessary to deliver renewable energy has increasingly become part of the equation, and we assist clients with the development and/or acquisition of transmission necessary for renewable energy resources.
We offer a broad industry focus on multiple technologies, including:
- Wind
- Solar
- Biomass
- Hydro
- Geothermal
- Landfill gas
- Biofuels
Clean Technology
We serve the needs of companies in every aspect of developing clean power and energy-efficient technologies, from emerging companies requiring complete life-cycle guidance to mature companies and investors seeking to develop clean technology strategies.
At Morgan Lewis, we place the highest value on the long term relationships we enjoy with our clients. We are committed to partnering with clean technology companies through their entire life cycle, from R&D and early and late-stage financing to patents, strategic partnerships, commercialization, late-stage liquidity events, and exit strategies. We have advised clients developing a wide range of clean technologies, including solar photovoltaic and thin-film modules, fuel cells, devices for metering, power storage and demand reduction, distributed generation, and carbon capture and sequestration.
Sustainability
Global issues such as climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation, and the impacts of the Kyoto Protocol have increasingly become matters of significant corporate policy. Incorporating the principles of sustainability and environmentally friendly practices into the business model of leading corporations has become a growing priority.
Our multidisciplinary integrated approach provides clients with creative, leading edge advice in areas such as emissions trading and environmental banking, energy management, "green" buildings, reputational risk and reporting standards (including compliance with securities laws), and other sustainability issues.