Advanced & Renewable Energy
A natural extension of the firm’s traditional environmental law practice is our work with advanced and renewable energy projects.
McMahon DeGulis attorneys draw on our experience in the areas of permitting, regulatory and compliance counseling, local zoning, power purchase agreements, transactional law, due diligence, stakeholder management, and enforcement defense to address the unique and often first-of-their-kind advanced and renewable energy needs of our clients. Our attorneys are experienced navigating emerging regulations for a growing list of industries that provide alternative sources of energy.
Our representative matters include:
- Negotiating power purchase agreements for several state university-owned solar projects.
- Negotiating a solar Energy Performance Contract for a Public Housing Authority, which was the largest EPC in the history of public housing and for which the client has received national recognition.
- Structuring a Request for Proposal process, evaluating responses, and negotiating a power purchase agreement for a large electric supply contract for a Public Housing Authority.
- Negotiating innovative oil and gas leases for hydraulic fracturing programs on behalf of the largest landowner in Ohio, a water conservancy district, for tens of thousands of acres that added enhanced environmental protections for the client given its environmental stewardship and conservation mission.
- Negotiating numerous leases for wind and solar farm projects on behalf of land owners.
- Successfully negotiating regulatory hurdles for two of the first functioning wind turbines on the southern shore of Lake Erie.
- Developing an innovative wind power zoning ordinance for a municipality.
- Serving on the team that developed, filed, and negotiated one of the first applications for a certificate of authority from the Ohio Power Siting Board for wind farms in Ohio.
- Guiding owners and developers through federal and state agency regulation, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. EPA, Ohio Power Siting Board, Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), and Ohio EPA.
- Serving as counsel for the permitting and regulatory matters relating to a pilot research project harnessing Lake Erie wind power.
- Advising a major lubricant manufacturer on change-of-law impacts, carbon market trends and other climate change issues.
- Serving as the lead counsel to draft and negotiate the first cooperative agreement with ODNR regarding avian species protocols for onshore wind farms, and negotiating a cooperative agreement with respect to collaboration on ecological and habitat studies necessary to approve Ohio projects.
- Advising on beneficial reuse and waste to energy projects.