Foley & Lardner LLP

Wind Energy

Foley’s Wind Energy attorneys can help guide your wind facility project — from procurement, construction, and financings through acquisitions, joint ventures, and divestitures.
Wind power has been one of the fastest-growing fuel sources for electric generating facilities worldwide. Our onshore wind energy experience dates back to 1989, when we were involved in the structuring, document negotiation, and financing of six separate wind energy projects in Southern California. Our offshore wind energy experience began in 2003 when we were engaged by a developer on a major offshore wind project, representing a finalist for more than three years in the Long Island Power Authority’s Request for Proposals for power supply from an offshore wind park. As a result, we have some of the deepest and longest experience in the wind industry — both onshore and offshore — in the United States.

Our services to our onshore and offshore wind clients are comprehensive and include engineering, balance of plant contracts, permitting, community relations, land rights, equipment procurement, construction, interconnection and transmission service agreements, financing arrangements, power purchase arrangements, offtake arrangements, tax analysis and structuring, real property matters, project acquisitions and divestitures, and turbine supply, operating, and maintenance. In addition, because offshore wind projects present challenges and issues that may be unfamiliar to land-base developers, we also can help you address siting turbines and related facilities and infrastructure on submerged lands; navigate state and federal rules and regulations; and charter, operate, and navigate specialized vessels for construction, operation, and maintenance of offshore facilities.

Details regarding some of these services follow.

Wind Energy Siting and Permitting

Projects sited on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), successor to the Minerals Management Service (MMS). Our Wind Energy Team has a thorough understanding of and experience with MMS offshore permitting processes in the context of oil and gas exploration, production, and rights-of-way. We also are well versed in the final regulations issued by MMS in April 2009 for the granting of leases, easements, and rights-of-way for wind and other renewable energy project activities on the OCS. We actively monitor developments concerning the interpretation and application of those rules and regulations for you, including the results of recent BOEMRE/MMS task force meetings throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Projects sited within the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes and other navigable waters of the United States fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Our attorneys have many years of experience working with the Army Corps and other federal and state agencies on permitting of submerged sites in navigable waters. We have recently been working on siting issues for energy-related infrastructure in the Great Lakes, including offshore wind facilities.

Whether your project will be sited on the OCS, in the Great Lakes, or in other navigable waters, we have the experience and knowledge to provide effective counsel for your siting issues.

Wind Energy Regulatory and Legislative Affairs

In addition to experience with siting and permitting issues, our Wind Energy Team has significant experience with the federal and state regulatory approval process required for your acquisition, construction, interconnection, and operation of wind energy facilities, as well as the approvals required for your long-term power purchase agreements and transmission of energy generated by such facilities. Having represented both wind developers and transmission owners, we also are well versed in the issues involved in the integration of renewable resources into the existing transmission grid in a safe and reliable manner.

Our experience with developing and advocating for new market concepts and legislative or regulatory solutions within the energy industry is especially valuable to you in the evolving regulatory environment of offshore wind, where the legal framework may be incomplete or the rules are just now being written. In addition, Foley has been involved in drafting and negotiating legislation and regulations in various state jurisdictions in order to create the framework necessary for renewable projects to move forward.

Intellectual Property Assets in Wind Energy

Recognizing that new technologies will be fundamental to the long-term success of the wind industry, our Wind Energy Team draws on the resources of experienced members of our Green Energy Technologies Practice. Our attorneys include registered professional engineers in the utility industry with extensive experience in evaluating, protecting, and licensing IP rights, and recognizing and avoiding conflict with the IP rights of others for a variety of mechanical and electromechanical green energy technologies. Our team understands the details of the new technologies and can develop and implement effective protection and licensing strategies for you.

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Offshore Wind Energy Maritime Law

Our knowledge and experience in maritime law allows us to provide you with effective counsel on the contractual and regulatory issues unique to the offshore industry, including the purchase, finance, construction, charter, operation, navigation, and supply of jack-up barges and other vessels required for the construction, operation, supply, and maintenance of an offshore wind project. The team includes an admiralty and maritime lawyer whose background as a naval architect and former naval officer enables him to bring a practical, seasoned perspective to these critical issues.

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