In Brief: A Digest of Facility Development Operations Projects

Gas-Fired Facilities

• Represented Sunflower Electric in connection with the development and construction of a new 110-megawatt gas-fired peaking facility, including with respect to the turbine supply contract; engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract; and permitting matters.
• Represented Aquila Merchant Energy in all matters relating to the development and construction of a 580-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in Missouri, including permitting, construction, and co-ownership and operating agreements.
• Represented Tenaska in the development, construction and financing of 1,220-megawatt and 845-megawatt combined-cycle electric generating facilities in Oklahoma and Texas.
• Assisting client with water supply agreements and related matters in connection with the development and construction of a new combined- cycle electric generating facility in Grimes County, Texas.
• Lead counsel in request for proposal process for turnkey construction of combined-cycle gas projects in North Carolina and Florida, including negotiation of the winning contracts.
• Rendered opinion on sufficiency of federal and state environmental permits and handled transfer of all permits in connection with the sale of a 640-megawatt merchant peaking power plant by Duke Energy to NRG Energy.
• Provided contract administration services with respect to a $188 million project involving the installation of gas turbines, heat recovery steam generators and other equipment at Consolidated Edison's East River Generating Station, including evaluation and resolution of contractor claims regarding design documents and changes to the design.
• Represented the developer of a 1,000-megawatt generating facility on Odessa, Texas, in disputes with the EPC contractor regarding responsibility for delayed completion of the project resulting from defective natural gas turbines.
• Represented subsidiary of AEP in addressing performance issues of Siemens gas-fired combustion turbines for a 450-megawatt cogeneration plant located within ConocoPhillips’ refinery complex near Houston.
• Favorably resolved through mediation claims against subcontractor of approximately $40 million for changes, delay, disruption and acceleration costs arising out of issues involving Alstom gas-fired turbines with a total electrical capacity of approximately 1,100-megawatts.
• Represented partnership between Conoco Global Power and NRG Energy in resolving disputes and claims arising out of a 421-megawatt gas-fired cogeneration power plant constructed by Bechtel Energy Corp. in Orange, Texas.

Coal-Fired Facilities

• Represented Sunflower Electric on all aspects of development of up to three additional coal-fired units at existing Brownfield site, including environmental permitting and litigation, joint ownership and operating agreements, unit power sales, and financing issues.
• Handled environmental permitting matters for 1,600-megawatt coal-fired Prairie State Generating Co. facility in Illinois jointly owned by eight public utilities and the world’s largest coal company.
• Represented Black Hills Corp. in connection with the negotiation of co-ownership and operations agreements with the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, Montana-Dakota Utilities and the City of Gillette for 90-megawatt and 100-megawatt mine-mouth coal-fired power plants in Wyoming.
• Represented Tenaska in the financing of construction of a 632-megawatt coal-fired electric generating facility in Texas.

Renewable Resource Facilities

• Represented NV Energy Inc. in its partnership with Apple Inc. to construct a 20-megawatt, 137-acre photovoltaic solar plant that will generate approximately 43.5 million kilowatt hours of clean energy to offset the electricity load for Apple’s 90,000-square-foot data center. Husch Blackwell’s represented NV Energy throughout the project, from structuring the transaction to lease, development and renewable energy agreements.
• Advised First Wind in connection with the acquisition and construction of a 150-200-megawatt wind energy generating facility in Texas, including negotiation of the balance of plant EPC agreement and construction financing.
• Counseled a national energy investment fund in the acquisition and construction of a 150-megawatt wind energy generating facility in Texas, including negotiation of the turbine supply agreement, long-term service and maintenance agreement, balance of plant EPC contract, and construction and long-term financing.
• Represented multiple national and global wind energy developers in connection with various project development and construction matters for wind farms in Kansas totaling more than 3,000 megawatts.
• Represented Invenergy a leading national wind developer, in connection with the development of a 200-megawatt wind project in Nebraska.
• Advised owner of a 20-megawatt photovoltaic power generation facility in California in various development matters, including the negotiation of the EPC agreement for the project.
• Represented Infigen Energy in the preparation and negotiation of an EPC agreement for major substation modifications and improvements, including the design and installation of an overall control system for Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reactive power upgrades.
• Negotiated the turbine supply and 20-year maintenance and extended warranty agreements for a 400-megawatt portfolio of three wind energy projects in the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas.
• Represented public utility in connection with co-development of a utility-scale solar facility in western United States.
• Counseled Emerson Electric in the drafting and negotiating of a supply contract with an EPC contractor for the supply and installation of inverters as part of solar photovoltaic power facility.
• Represented owner of multiple wind energy projects in breach of warranty claims litigation against the turbine supplier and Lloyds of London.
• Represented general contractor in connection with procurement and installation of turbines and pipe for a hydroelectric power plant in San Bernardino, Calif., including presentation of claims based on differing site conditions, delays, productivity impacts and extra work.
• Represented Panda Energy in defending and prosecuting a claim against a Chinese-based EPC contractor on a hydroelectric facility in Nepal. The matter was settled through mediation and resulted in payment of less than 5 percent of the amount sought by the EPC contractor.