Preti Flaherty has been at the forefront of offshore and onshore wind projects for several decades, ever since Maine and the rest of the U.S. took its first steps into the wind energy sector. Our Energy and Environmental attorneys, through their extensive knowledge and experience, advance complex energy developments by crafting legislative and policy programs aligned with our clients’ business models and regional electricity markets; anticipating key agency permitting issues; developing a public relations strategy and cultivating grassroots and stakeholder support; and most importantly, understanding project opposition so that we can effectively and efficiently steer around the obstacles.
Onshore Wind
Since the growth of utility-scale onshore wind generation in New England over twenty years ago, Preti Flaherty has advised dozens of clients in connection with wind project development, operation, and related transactions. Our clients include developers, landowners, investors and lenders, manufacturers of equipment including turbines, construction firms and contractors, and offtakers of energy and renewable attributes, among others. We have helped our clients build and maximize revenues from onshore wind projects that are now operating; implement international transmission arrangements to bring wind power across the U.S.-Canada border in both directions; negotiate and document power purchase agreements under various models including physical deliveries, contracts for differences, and virtual power purchase agreements, among others; interconnect wind projects to the regional electric grid and obtain transmission service under utility tariffs; qualify for renewable energy certificates and federal tax incentives including renewable energy production tax credits; and evaluate and consummate transactions to buy and sell interests in onshore wind projects and portfolios.
Offshore Wind
On offshore wind, we have been engaged for the University of Maine and developers since 2008. We obtained all of the regulatory and transactional approvals for the first grid-connected floating offshore wind project in the Americas. We also negotiated the Joint Development Agreement between Deepwater Wind Rhode Island LLC, the Office of Energy Resources, and the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, enabling the development of a 30 MW offshore wind project off Block Island—the first commercial offshore wind project in the United States. Our attorneys have also been involved for over a decade in regulatory, permitting, transactional and PPA work on all the Maine offshore wind projects, including negotiating and obtaining Public Utilities Commission approval of the first power purchase agreement for a full-scale demonstration floating offshore wind project. We also have been working on a 10-turbine floating wind project in the Gulf of Maine.
Our extensive offshore and onshore wind experience further includes:
- Responses to Governmental/Utility RFPs
- Term sheet, PPA and other commercial negotiations, including long-term contracts
- Environmental permitting (local, state and federal)
- Other state and local permits
- CZMA Consistency Determinations
- BOEM leasing/approvals
- Acquisition (purchase, lease and options)
- Partner transactional documents
- Conservation easements
- Submerged land leases
- Transmission lines, pipelines and roads
- Interconnection Agreements
- Regional Grid Operator (e.g. ISO New England) matters
- Federal Licensing and Permitting
- Renewable Energy Credits (RECs)
- Project Financing
- Federal Grants and Loan Guarantees
Unmatched influence
Preti Flaherty’s lawyers and lobbyists have been involved in every significant piece of renewable energy legislation in New England. We were instrumental in crafting a key compromise facilitating passage of Maine’s original Ocean Energy Act, which paved the way for development of the Maine Aqua Ventus project and other Maine offshore wind assets. We regularly engage with state incentive policies including Renewable Portfolio Standards and net metering programs, lobby on governmental renewable power procurement programs, and advocate for energy infrastructure development. Our knowledge, experience, and immersion in the legislative and regulatory paradigms governing renewable energy allow us to navigate the complex framework of laws and regulations and advance the inevitability of wind power development projects.