Renewable Energy

Hodgson Russ's renewable energy practice group advises on a broad spectrum of large-scale and distributed solar, offshore and onshore wind, energy storage, transmission, clean transportation, and energy efficiency projects. We guide developers, lenders, land owners, permitting and development agencies, suppliers, project acquirers and investors through every aspect of project development, permitting, financing, regulatory, construction, implementation and operations. Hodgson Russ attorneys combine their deep knowledge in renewable energy and related markets with foremost expertise in regulatory, real estate, local and municipal zoning and land use, labor and employment, environmental, transactional, tax, cross-border matters, and litigation.

Our firm has worked on the U.S. legal aspects of renewable energy projects from Quebec to Uruguay and from Maine to Hawaii. Hodgson Russ has been involved in renewable energy from the earliest days of hydropower, including the first successful defense of a permit denial due to excess greenhouse gas emissions.

As the states and federal government implement policies accelerating the buildout of renewable energy resources and reduction of greenhouse gases, and the solar, wind, and energy storage industries grow at exponential rates across the United States and beyond, Hodgson Russ provides both private and public entities an experienced, forward-thinking legal team with both strategic acumen and deep experience in all applicable areas of law.

Strategic Planning

Clean Energy and Renewable Portfolio Standards
Wholesale and Retail Electricity Rate Design
Project and Portfolio Due Diligence

Zoning and Permitting

Municipal zoning applications
Administrative and Judicial Dispute Resolution
Public Service Commission approvals and Petitions for Declaratory Rulings
Transmission Projects and Interconnection Agreements
Article 10 Permitting Process (New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment)
Section 94-c siting Process (Office of Renewable Energy Siting)
Payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) Agreements
Host Community, Community Benefit, and Road Use Agreements

Environmental Review

National Environmental Policy Act compliance and State Environmental Review
Take Permits
Historic Preservation reviews

Project Financing

Reviewing financing documents
Obtaining state and federal financial incentives
Issuing required legal opinions
Obtaining benefits through industrial development agencies

Lease & Easement Agreements

Drafting, execution, and enforcement of lease and easement agreements necessary for acquiring transmission line routes, achieving wind-stream protection, preserving right to solar resources, and complying with noise and property-line setback requirements