Drinker Biddle lawyers assist clients with energy and infrastructure financings ranging from conventional and renewable energy power plants to pulp de-inking and desalination facilities. Our work includes project financing, tax equity financing and traditional utility finance.
Our lawyers regularly structure public-private partnerships and profit-nonprofit partnerships, in which careful consideration of appropriate risks to be born by public and non-profit participants is required. We have represented public and nonprofit sponsors, developers, private investors and underwriters in connection with partnership structures for a variety of power projects, including numerous waste-to-energy facilities and solar facilities, toll road privatizations, desalination facilities and conservation projects among others.
In addition to core business issues, federal tax benefits, municipal law requirements and regulatory considerations drive the structure of financings. Financing documents must also assure proper management of project revenues and collateral to allow lenders to maintain continuity if a project experiences stress.
Drinker Biddle lawyers represent borrowers, underwriters and issuers in connection with issuance of tax-exempt and taxable municipal bonds. Our bond finance practice includes a range of power, efficiency, water, wastewater and solid waste projects for governmental and non-profit entities. We assist with governmental and private activity bonds as well as taxable and interest subsidy bonds. Pairing taxable bonds with governmental incentives such as tax credits and guarantees is a successful strategy for a variety of projects. We assist both municipal and investor-owned utilities with bond financings.
We are actively involved in renewable energy finance. We have advised clients with respect to structures to take advantage of federal tax credits and grants including the use of true leases, inverted leases and partnership flip structures to accommodate tax motivated equity investors. Our team helps clients secure project cash flows from renewable energy credits and state incentive payments ensuring that conditions of grant and RPS compliance programs are met.
The execution of energy efficiency improvements for governmental entities are typically subject to special state legislation, and Drinker Biddle lawyers are familiar with and have assisted in drafting such legislation. We understand the complexity of developing a renewable energy facility on property owned by a government or non-profit, which can adversely affect tax-exempt bonds issued by the property owner.
In addition to our work financing individual projects, Drinker Biddle lawyers create innovative collective financing mechanisms. We assist state and local governmental agencies with pooled financings for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and with efforts to securitize energy efficiency loans. We counsel private clients with the creation of debt and equity funds to finance multiple renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, and assist single equity investors that invest in a pipeline of equity projects from one or more developers.