Norton Rose Fulbright represents New York Power Authority in inaugural solar project acquisition

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright represented New York Power Authority (NYPA) in its first renewable energy acquisition of a large scale solar energy generation project from Clean Peak LLC, a subsidiary of CS Energy, LLC. Located in Fort Edward, New York, the Somers Solar project is the first project to be acquired, owned and operated by NYPA under its recently expanded authority and new renewable energy strategic plan.

This 20 MW project sits on more than 150 acres in Washington County about 50 miles north of Albany, New York. It will be constructed and operated by NYPA’s subsidiary, New York Renewable Energy Development Holdings Corporation (NYRED).

The acquisition comes shortly after NYPA published its inaugural Renewables Strategic Plan in January, which outlined 37 renewable energy generation projects across the state intended to supply New Yorkers with affordable, reliable and emissions-free electricity. Somers Solar is the first project in the pipeline, which is expected to generate more than 3 GW of renewable energy.

As the largest state-run public power organization in the United States, NYPA operates 17 generating facilities and more than 1,550 circuit-miles of transmission lines. Approximately 80 percent of the electricity NYPA produces is renewable hydropower.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s deal team was led by Becky Diffen (Austin) and Allie Hemmings (Washington, DC), and also included Ben Koenigsberg (New York), Keith Martin (Washington, DC), Christine Fernandez Owen (Chicago), Bob Greenslade (Denver), Jeremy Tripp (Houston), Chris Vale (New York), Coleman Porta (St. Louis) and Lauren Thomas (Austin).