Energy

Smith Anderson is a leading North Carolina law firm in the energy industry sector. Our Energy industry team has provided regular counsel to three Fortune 250 investor-owned utilities and their affiliates for many years and in some cases, for decades. We have also represented developers, private equity firms, municipalities, cooperatives, technology companies, entrepreneurs, lenders, investors and other investor-owned utilities and their affiliates across the United States. Our team of attorneys advise companies on the development and acquisition of energy projects fueled by traditional resources like natural gas and coal as well as projects fueled by solar, wind, ethanol, biomass, waste, hydroelectric, biofuels and other renewable resources. We also provide counsel to businesses in their development and acquisition of improved energy efficiency and smart grid projects, battery energy storage systems, and renewable natural gas projects.

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Our Energy industry team is comprised of attorneys from across different practice disciplines and with industry backgrounds that bring added value to our representation, including:

• Former general counsel and corporate secretary for the nation’s largest public provider.
• Former legal, chief ethics and compliance officer and corporate secretary for a Fortune 150 investor- owned utility
• Former general counsel to two of the nation’s largest joint action agencies.
• Former energy policy advisor to North Carolina’s senior senator on Capitol Hill.
• Former Assistant Attorney General in the North Carolina Department of Justice’s Environmental Division.
• Senior Enforcement Counsel for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

Our lawyers are involved in some of the most pressing issues facing the industry. Among other things, they have participated in invitation-only panels for state agencies concerning energy policy, defeated state agency decisions challenging energy investment tax credits and in other cases denying cost recovery and challenged data center moratoriums. Our colleagues include one of the state’s best government relations consultants for energy matters, and our former colleague is chief executive officer of one of the nation’s largest gas utilities after serving as general counsel for its utility holding company. 

Our Energy team is supported by the strength of a full-service business and litigation law firm, including lawyers in our Mergers and Acquisitions, Tax, Employment, Debt Finance, Real Estate and other practices as needed, for each transaction. Our integrated, cross-practice approach helps clients address the complex challenges of the energy industry while fostering strong, long-term relationships. 

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Services

• Acquisition/disposition of assets, including generating assets and battery storage, resources and lines of business
• Project contract negotiation (e.g., power supply interconnection, surplus interconnection, operations and maintenance, construction and service contracts, supply chain, renewable energy certificate
• Construction, grid interconnection, land use and zoning, environmental and real estate
• Project structure and finance
• Joint ventures
• Tax and strategic planning
• Renewable energy tax incentives, Department of Energy loans and governmental support
• Intellectual property/technology protection and licensing of cleantech and other energy assets
• Litigation and dispute resolution including construction disputes, data center moratoriums, and agency decisions
• Condemnation and easements
• Regulatory advice and representation
• Government advocacy
• Hedging and derivatives transactions
• Compliance with renewable standards (e.g., NC REP)
  

• Acquisition, development and disposition of utility scale solar facilities and utility scale battery and energy storage systems for investor-owned utilities, developers, and their affiliates
• Negotiation of utility scale BESS power supply agreements for an investor-owned utility
• Acquisition and development of battery and energy storage facilities for surplus interconnection service
• Acquisition, development and disposition of multiple distributed generation facilities fueled by traditional resources and renewable resources for investor-owned utilities and their affiliates
• Design, negotiation, and administration of renewable power purchase agreements for investor-owned utilities
• Acquisition, development, dispositions, condemnations and regulatory compliance for electric utility and natural gas distribution companies
• Negotiation of supply chain agreements for independent power producers
• NC REPS implementation and compliance for electric power suppliers
• Negotiation of credit facilities for specialty lenders to developers of renewable generation facilities and renewable natural gas facilities
• Developed and acted as transactions counsel to an RFP issuer for generation projects fueled by biomass materials
• Counsel to independent power producers regarding third party sales limitations
• Counsel to clients regarding availability of tax and other incentives arising from renewable energy project development under federal and state law
• Counsel to clients on direct spending and tax incentive provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 related to renewable energy and energy efficiency, including work on federal grant application and execution under Smart Grid Investment Grant program
• Represented a nuclear energy company in multiple licensing and collaboration transactions related to development and commercialization of new nuclear reactor technology and related intellectual property
• Appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court of an NCUC decision rejecting recovery for a basic facilities charge for end use customers by a public utility
• Acquisition and development of landfill methane projects including counsel on investment, tax and strategic planning issues
• Negotiation of various steam, natural gas and electric power service agreements for industrial customers.
• Construction and development of LEED-Silver Certified world headquarters office building for a pharmaceutical industry client in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park
• Represented a Fortune 500 company on design-build engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement for construction of "next generation" nuclear power plant project estimated at $4 billion
• Represented a Fortune 250 company in negotiations and preparation of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreements for the construction of three solar facilities, totaling 128 megawatts of capacity