Electric Power

Jackson Walker represents clients across the U.S. who are involved in virtually every aspect of the conventional and renewable sectors of the electric power industry. Because of the breadth of our experience, our clients have asked us to assist them with a broad range of matters – power plant development, permitting, construction and operations, fuel supply, wholesale and retail power trading and marketing, power transmission projects, environmental and other regulatory concerns, taxation and tax incentives related to power assets and revenues, and, when the need arises, litigation. We have also represented clients in power-related financing and merger and acquisition transactions and in the purchase and sale of power plants and items of new and used or surplus generation equipment. Our clients include companies participating in almost every role in the electric power market – power plant developers, independent power producers, wholesale power traders and marketers, retail electric providers, transmission and distribution service providers, utilities, lenders, power co-ops, construction contractors, equipment manufacturers, and a wide variety of service providers.

Our team includes lawyers who have held positions as general counsel or other senior in-house legal positions with power project developers and owners, power marketers, power construction companies, and major equipment manufacturers. That in-house experience makes us well aware of our client's commercial and corporate concerns, the importance of time to our clients, and the need for close collaboration with the client's in-house commercial, development, legal, engineering and operations teams.

Our attorneys regularly assist our electric power clients in all aspects of a broad array of transactions relating to electric power and electric power assets, including:

• the acquisition and disposition of electric power plants and items of new, as well as used or surplus, power generation equipment
• the development and financing of both conventional and renewable U.S. and non-U.S. electric power plants
• federal and state income taxation, tax credit, tax abatement, and other tax matters related to electric power assets
• federal and state legislative and regulatory matters, including lobbying activities with the Texas Legislature and regulatory certifications, permitting, rate, and other contested matters and proceedings before agencies such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Texas Public Utility Commission, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and independent system operators (including the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the New England Power Pool)
• contracts relating to the construction of electric power plants, including Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts; turbine and other equipment reservations and supply agreements with manufacturers of major, long lead-time equipment; and long term parts and services agreements
• plant site selection, permitting, and acquisition, including securing rights of access and easements for transmission
• environmental assessment and due diligence and federal and state environmental permitting, including advice to clients concerning management of the tensions between the State of Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning federal environmental regulatory requirements regarding air emissions, greenhouse gas, once-through cooling requirements, and other environmental issues
• fuel supply contracts and long-term power sale and purchase contracts
• interconnection agreements with transmission and distribution service providers
• wholesale power trading and marketing and retail electric power marketing, including the development of supporting credit policies, credit support documents, and related risk management structures and policies
• negotiating and documenting routine asset management agreements, power management agreements, fuel management agreements, operation and maintenance agreements, and long term service and parts supply contracts ("LTSA"s)
• establishing forms of master service agreements, tasking orders, and purchase orders adapted to the needs of particular plants
• other type of contracts relating to electric power assets, including, for example, contracts for the construction and installation of performance enhancing equipment, contracts relating to pollution control equipment and other retrofits, contracts relating to the performance of major equipment inspections and overhauls, contracts for the sale of surplus and scrap equipment and materials, and grazing leases needed to maintain agricultural exemptions on excess land held by power generation companies
• resolving disagreements with power purchasers, fuel suppliers, construction contractors, equipment providers, LTSA contractors, and other service providers and suppliers, including resolution of disputes regarding warranty claims and compliance with performance guarantees and quality specifications
• dealing with employment, employee benefit, and general business matters