Renewable and Traditional Energy

Day Carter & Murphy LLP represents clients before the California Public Utilities Commission on legal matters including rates for utility services, natural gas storage and delivery, distributed energy resources, renewable resources, biogas, access limitations, publicly owned utilities, electric sales, service territories, tariffs and market access, utility procurement, cost recovery and non-bypassable charges, rulemaking proceedings, utility asset sales, utility financing, and water utility concerns. We also negotiate with the investor-owned utilities regarding interconnection issues and tariff implementation.

Attorneys in our Renewable & Traditional Energy practice group help clients strategically navigate energy projects through all types of legal issues and at every stage of the process, from development to interconnection and transmission matters.   We have unparalleled experience in maneuvering through complex regulatory laws and working with the agencies that enforce them.  Attorneys at DCM have played instrumental roles in many cutting-edge and complex transactions, and are highly regarded in the field of energy law. DCM is relied upon by private and public entities across a broad range of energy industry sectors, both for the strength of our practice as well as the comprehensive nature of our services.

Public Power

DCM represents a number of municipal utilities in contracting with retail customers, rate setting, negotiating and drafting of power sales agreements, renewable procurement, interconnection and transmission agreements, formation and boundary change matters, and right-of-way acquisition for transmission and distribution lines through negotiation or condemnation. Additionally, we represent municipal utility clients in various proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission.

Solar

Attorneys in the Renewable & Traditional Energy practice group counsel solar energy producers and developers with due diligence and in the negotiation and drafting of solar land leases, power purchase agreements, and right-of-way acquisitions.  DCM attorneys also assist clients with the acquisition of severed mineral rights, the surrender of surface access by mineral rights owners, and surface use accommodation agreements with severed mineral rights owners and oil and gas lessees so as to permit surface use for solar development.

Wind Energy

DCM’s wind energy practice focuses on due diligence, the negotiation and drafting of wind farm easements or leases and in the negotiation of power purchase agreements with in- and out-of-state wind projects.

Biomass

Attorneys at DCM have represented purchasers in power purchase agreements with biomass projects and have worked on biomass project permitting.

Biogas

DCM represents agricultural interests before the California Public Utilities Commission in connection with various biogas procurement and incentive matters.

Independent Gas Storage

DCM represents independent storage providers before the California Public Utilities Commission and the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. Our energy attorneys assist in obtaining certificates of public convenience and necessity, including California Environmental Quality Act compliance, preparing tariffs for storage services, acquiring property rights through negotiation or condemnation, and ongoing compliance matters. Our attorneys were actively involved in the development of new regulations for wells at storage facilities and continue to provide advice regarding ongoing compliance matters. DCM has represented the developers of four of the last five independent gas storage projects completed, or under construction, in California, as well as others currently in development.

Geothermal

DCM represents geothermal energy producers in the negotiation and drafting of geothermal leases (state, federal, and private), power purchase agreements, and the purchase and sale of geothermal energy plants and producing properties.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Represented a large industrial customer group in all aspects of ratemaking before the California Public Utilities Commission.

Represented developer of rice straw-to-ethanol plant before the California Energy Commission during the siting, permitting, and related environmental review process.

Assisted in drafting variance request from the California Air Resources Board’s diesel fuel specification requirements.

Represent a variety of competitive service provider interests in California Public Utilities Commission ratemaking and regulatory proceedings, including matters relating to utility procurement, RPS compliance, and service areas.

Represent a coalition of participants in the distributed generation/distributed energy resources industry in regulatory proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission relating to rates, interconnection procedures, and CHP policy.

Represent a coalition of agricultural energy consumers before the California Public Utilities Commission regarding agricultural rate and interconnection issues.

Represent developers of gas storage projects before the California Public Utilities Commission with respect to applications for certificates of public convenience and necessity and related CEQA compliance.

Represented energy company in the development of an underground compressed air project in connection with the acquisition of rights in land and related transactional documents.

Represented bidder in auction of fossil-fuel fired power plants by negotiating indemnifications relating to potential site contamination and by reviewing related environmental provisions in purchase and sale documents. Negotiated access agreements on behalf of landowners to facilitate the evaluation and clean-up of contamination by third parties.

Prepared and negotiated complex agreement between federal and state agencies and power plant owner which implemented significant California Energy Commission project mitigation conditions relating to federal and state Endangered Species Acts.

Represented developer of power plant before the California Energy Commission during the Commission’s environmental review of facility decommissioning plan.

Represented developer of 670MW gas-fired power plant in the California Energy Commission siting process.

Represent energy companies in the development of major underground gas storage projects in connection with the acquisition of rights in land for storage, pipeline and compressor station easements, and mineral owner consents, as well as the negotiation of master services agreements, drilling contracts, and other operational and transactional documents.

Represent energy companies in connection with major acquisitions of numerous power plants and associated pipeline systems, including the negotiation and documentation of power purchase agreements, the negotiation and drafting of power plant site lease agreements, the conduct of real property title due diligence, and related transactional matters.

Assist clients with environmental audits to identify and address potential compliance issues.

Conduct environmental due diligence for purchasers in energy asset acquisition transactions, including review of environmental site assessments and transaction documents.

Represent proponents of energy projects in all stages of development: financing, site acquisitions, due diligence, permitting, interconnection, and ongoing compliance.

Represent developers of distributed generation/distributed energy resources in power sales agreement and interconnection transactions.

Represent publicly owned utilities in formation and annexation proceedings.

Represent publicly owned utilities with respect to electric service matters.

Represent parties to complex renewable resource procurement transactions.

Represent developers of gas storage projects before the California Public Utilities Commission with respect to applications for certificates of public convenience and necessity and related CEQA compliance.

Represented energy company in the development of an underground compressed air project in connection with the acquisition of rights in land and related transactional documents.

Represented a California joint powers agency, consisting of a major California municipal utility district and two large Northern California cities, in the negotiation and documentation of acquisition of exclusive rights to buy steam and site power plants (together with the pass-through of economic benefits to the governmental joint powers agency for the provision of tax advantages to a major integrated oil company and a major geothermal developer in the partial funding of steam field development costs).

Represented the private developers of a 28-megawatt hydroelectric power plant in the negotiation and documentation of the acquisition of easements and rights-of-way from the underlying landowners and in the subsequent $70 million project finance of such development.

Advised regulated entities on compliance with the greenhouse gas reporting for electricity imports, and cap and trade requirements for instate emitters.

Represent project developers and financial institutions with regard to development of, and investments in, energy facilities, including conducting due diligence and providing legal permitting and regulatory opinions to support construction and term financing.

Represented wind company in dispute with landowners over alleged misrepresentations in lease negotiations, with successful result of no lease modification and recovery of attorney’s fees for wind company.

Represent wind and solar energy companies in land acquisition and development of commercial energy projects, with an emphasis on real estate, title due diligence, development agreements and related matters.

Conducted real estate due diligence for purchase of a 100 MW AC photovoltaic solar power generation facility.