Energy Storage

The members of Foley & Lardner’s Energy Team have been assisting sponsors, investors, and lenders in the evaluation, development, construction, financing, and sale of energy storage systems (“ESS”) on a standalone basis, paired with renewable energy, and in microgrid configurations – from distributed residential and commercial applications to some of the largest solar+storage projects in the world.

Foley’s Track Record Making Storage Work For Clients:

• Provide early legal and regulatory due diligence for greenfield ESS opportunities
• Develop template standalone and paired ESS offtake agreements for sponsor platform
• Negotiate ESS EPC, procurement, and long-term O&M agreements
• Prepare amendments to principal project contracts, including offtake and interconnection, to add ESS to existing energy projects and tax equity structures
• Evaluate and provide tax analysis/opinions on ITC eligibility under current law and legislative proposals and obtain IRS private letter rulings
• Routinely close solar+storage tax equity and debt financings for sponsors and investors
• Negotiate enterprise M&A for energy storage sponsors and services providers
• Due diligence ESS assets quickly to assess risk factors for competitive bids

ESS deployment in the United States is being driven by a confluence of factors. State and ISO/RTO markets continue to evolve as grid operators struggle to balance an increasingly complex power system and extreme weather. Utilities are being required to enter into long-term ESS service contracts to satisfy resource adequacy and other regulatory obligations. ESS technologies like batteries are often the top choice on a cost basis to replace retiring fossil fuel plants or alleviate transmission and distribution bottlenecks. And policymakers are instituting incentives and market reforms to accelerate sustainability and regulatory goals. In the midst of record-setting deployment, however, the industry will be planning for 2023 projects while grappling with delays from COVID-19 protocols, supply chain disruptions, governmental scrutiny of labor and equipment sourcing, and ongoing trade disputes.