News

Chadbourne's Project Finance Practice Wins Another Renewable Energy Deal of the Year Award

Chadbourne Acted as Counsel on the Winning and Runner-Up Deals of Power Finance & Risk Magazine's Renewables Deal of the Year Awards

April 30, 2012

Desert Sunlight, a 550-megawatt photovoltaic solar power project in Riverside County, California, has won Power Finance & Risk Magazine's Deal of the Year award in the category Best Renewables Deal. Chadbourne represented one of the sponsors, GE Energy Financial Services, in the acquisition and financing of this $3 billion project.

The Plainfield Renewable Energy project, a $225 million biomass project in Plainfield, Connecticut, took the runner-up position. In this project, Chadbourne represented the Carlyle Energy Mezzanine Opportunities Group (Carlyle Group) as construction and term note purchaser.

As the largest U.S. renewables project finance deal of 2012 -- it is no surprise that this is the second award for the Desert Sunlight project. In March, the transaction was recognized by Project Finance Magazine as the 2011 North American Solar Deal of the Year. Desert Sunlight is the first utility-scale photovoltaic financing broadly syndicated to the bank and bond market. The project is also notable for tapping multiple markets and investors to fund relatively new technology.

The Chadbourne team on the deal was led by Paul Weber, Jocelyn Lavallo, Eli Katz and Ben Koenigsberg.

The Plainfield Renewable Energy biomass project was also previously recognized by Project Finance Magazine as the North American Mezzanine Deal of the Year 2011. The project, due to be complete by December 2013, will utilize over 250,000 tons of wood per year to generate over 37.5-megawatts (net) of clean energy to power the equivalent of 37,000 homes.

Working on the transaction for Chadbourne were Todd Alexander, Keith Martin, Ikenna Emehelu, Robert Eberhardt, William Greason and Richard Leder.

"We are thrilled to once again be awarded for our work on these landmark deals," said Keith Martin, Chadbourne's project finance practice group co-head. "Our project finance lawyers have developed a leading role in the renewable energy industry in the United States, working on some of the most groundbreaking and complex renewable energy transactions in the country."

"These awards are a strong endorsement of Chadbourne's leading advisory capabilities in the renewable energy sector," added project finance co-head Rohit Chaudhry. "It is confirmation that we are doing right by our remarkable clients, and we are grateful for having had the chance to work with them."