1. Project Finance Structure and Risk Allocation
Energy and infrastructure project finance places each asset in a special purpose vehicle and requires lenders to rely on project cash flows for debt service, making the legal architecture of security packages and cash flow priorities central to every transaction.
How Is a Project Finance Structure Designed to Protect Lender and Sponsor Interests?
A project finance SPV holds all contracts, permits, and real property rights, limiting lender recourse to project assets and preventing a project-level default from affecting the sponsor's other businesses. Project finance counsel must confirm that security interests are perfected under the laws of each jurisdiction where project assets are located and that the intercreditor agreement governing competing lender claims is consistent with the security structure.
How Should a Ppp Concession Agreement Allocate Risk between Government and Private Investors?
A public-private partnership concession agreement must identify which risks are borne by the government, which by the private concessionaire, and which are shared, and must specify the compensation events, relief events, and termination payment mechanisms that apply when those risks materialize. Public-private partnerships counsel must ensure that the change-in-law mechanism fairly compensates the concessionaire for regulatory changes that alter the project's cost base after financial close.
2. Energy Transition and Renewable Energy Compliance
Energy and infrastructure counsel advising on renewable generation must coordinate multi-agency permitting, interconnection queue management, and PPA structuring within the tight financial close timelines that tax credit monetization structures impose.
What Permitting Steps Must a Renewable Energy Project Complete before Construction Begins?
A renewable project must obtain NEPA and state environmental clearances, secure a signed interconnection agreement, acquire site control through purchase or long-term lease, and meet applicable renewable portfolio standard requirements. Renewable energy counsel must build a permitting schedule that coordinates federal, state, and local approvals to reach notice to proceed by the date the project's PPA and tax credit structure require.
How Should a Long-Term Power Purchase Agreement Address Price Risk and Force Majeure?
A long-term PPA must specify the contract price, delivery obligations, curtailment adjustment mechanisms, and the force majeure conditions that excuse performance without placing the entire financial burden on one party. Energy regulatory counsel must confirm that the PPA's pricing structure, particularly for corporate PPAs supporting RE100 commitments, satisfies the applicable utility commission and grid operator requirements for direct procurement arrangements.
3. Epc Contract Management and Operations Risk
Energy and infrastructure construction contracts must assign schedule and cost risk with enough precision to resolve delay disputes arising years after financial close, when contemporaneous project records are the only evidence available to support or defend a liquidated damages claim.
How Are Epc Contract Claims for Schedule Delays and Cost Overruns Defended or Pursued?
An EPC contract on an energy and infrastructure project establishes a per-day liquidated damages penalty for late completion, and the contractor avoids those damages by demonstrating that delays were caused by owner change orders, force majeure, or owner-caused obstructions. Construction contracts counsel must assemble a contemporaneous record linking each day of delay to its root cause through a critical path analysis, since delay claims presented without that analysis are routinely rejected by arbitral tribunals.
How Should an O&m Agreement Allocate Performance Risk over the Life of an Energy Asset?
An O&M agreement must specify the performance standards and KPIs the operator must achieve, the step-in rights triggered by sustained underperformance, and the liability allocation for environmental contamination and third-party claims. Energy and construction counsel drafting an O&M agreement must confirm the operator's obligation to maintain all permits in good standing, since a permit lapse can trigger a default under the project's financing documents and affect the debt service coverage ratio.
4. Environmental Compliance and International Dispute Resolution
Energy and infrastructure developers and investors face environmental permit challenges domestically and investor-state treaty claims internationally when host-government policy shifts impair the economics of long-term projects.
How Are Environmental Challenges to Energy and Infrastructure Projects Managed in Judicial Proceedings?
Community benefit agreements and stakeholder engagement programs that address neighboring community concerns before those concerns become permit challenges or injunction applications are among the most effective tools for managing environmental litigation risk in project development. Environmental compliance counsel must demonstrate that the permitting authority followed required procedural steps and applied correct legal standards, since a procedural deficiency provides grounds for permit reversal even when the substantive environmental analysis was sound.
How Are Energy Investor-State Disputes Resolved When Host Governments Alter the Regulatory Framework?
When a host government unilaterally modifies the regulatory framework or revokes a concession, an energy investor may pursue claims under a bilateral investment treaty or the Energy Charter Treaty based on the fair and equitable treatment standard, the prohibition on indirect expropriation, or most-favored-nation provisions. International arbitration counsel must evaluate the treaty architecture applicable to the investment, select the arbitral forum and seat with the most favorable procedural rules and award enforcement prospects, and manage the document production process that allows the tribunal to assess the quantum of loss and the host government's justifications for the challenged measure.
07 Apr, 2026
