ENERGY BUSINESS LAW
ENERGY BUSINESS LAW
Insights for the Global Energy Industry
ENERGY BUSINESS LAW
Insights for the Global Energy Industry
Energy
Subscribe to Energy's Posts

McDermott Will & Emery Named 2021 Project Finance Group of the Year

by | Feb 18, 2022 | ,

We are pleased to share that our Energy & Project Finance Group was recently recognized as a 2021 Law360 Practice Group of the Year for Project Finance.

We have made impressive strides in 2021 with exponential team and matter growth globally. The group’s multifaceted experience in both renewable and conventional energy, as well as in the infrastructure sector, combined with the group’s excellent thought leadership, has led to this recognition.

From closing fast-moving energy deals to help drive a carbon-neutral economy to hosting industry experts for a bi-weekly discussion on how the Energy Transition is shaping our industry, the Energy & Project Finance Group is committed to providing comprehensive advice in any area of energy law.

Read the full article.



read more

Key Takeaways | The Growth of Early Stage Technology Company Investment and Development in Energy and Oil and Gas

by and | Dec 16, 2021 | , , ,

How is technology affecting the energy industry? In the latest webinar in the Energy Transition series, McDermott Will & Emery Partner Parker A. Lee hosted Shawn Helms, co-head of McDermott’s Technology and Outsourcing Practice Group, Nadine Herrwerth, managing director at TWTG, and BJ Walker, managing director at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co for a 30-minute discussion where they opined on the current and future impact technology plays on conventional and renewable energy companies.

Below are key takeaways from the webinar:

1. Industrial Internet of Things (I-IOT). I-IOT products and services can be used to improve site safety and efficiency. I-IOT products have the capability to monitor equipment, such as valves and temperature sensors on machinery, and record data on external dashboards for analysis and alerting. Through the use of data analysis, data gathered by I-IOT products can identify trends, build models and detect future equipment failure. As a result, I-IOT products and services can increase the efficiency, reliability and safety of equipment.

Though the application of I-IOT devices is relatively new to the industry, these products are capable of being retrofitted to established and already operational sites.

2. Technology Companies and Energy. While technology companies are large consumers of energy output, they can also provide significant insights and intelligence in regard to energy use and production. Synergies between technology and energy industries are continuously evolving and providing improvements in energy investments, efficiencies and reliability. For example, drones are capable of leveraging artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and consistency of equipment monitoring and inspections, particularly equipment that is located in remote areas (such as offshore).

3. Investor Focus on the Energy Space. An important theme in the oil and gas industry is the recent focus on transforming the industry to a generator of cashflow. In attracting new investors to the energy industry, particularly as new technologies are introduced, investors should know there is typically a longer wait period to receive a return on investment than what a general investor would commonly expect. In addition to general investors, technology companies are investing in renewable energy sources for purposes of environmental responsibility and in order to power their own enterprise. It is expected that this trend will continue to grow in energy intensive areas, such as the cryptocurrency space.

4. Technology in Traditional Oil and Gas. Although not widely appreciated, the oil and gas industry has always been heavily reliant on technology and an area where revolutionary technologies are developed—and that is certainly the case today. Because oil and gas professionals are proficient with, and conversant in, the application of new technologies, look to those professionals to be industry leaders in the energy transition as new businesses and products are developed.

To access past webinars in this series and to begin receiving Energy updates, including invitations to the webinar series, please click here.



read more

New Resource Center: Navigating Change in the US Administration

by | Mar 19, 2021 | , , ,

Pandemic relief, taxes, income inequality, climate change, infrastructure, healthcare and civil rights: the new US administration is moving forward rapidly on President Joe Biden’s stated priorities. So how are these new policies affecting your business? We’re here to keep you informed!

McDermott Will & Emery’s multidisciplinary team of industry-leading lawyers are monitoring key legal areas to help you navigate and gain perspective on the most critical impacts of changing US policies. Access the latest updates in our new resource center.



read more

United Kingdom Government Confirms Change to Sustainability Criteria for Biomass

by | Aug 30, 2013 | , , ,

by Caroline Lindsey

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in the United Kingdom published its response to its “Consultation on proposals to enhance the sustainability criteria for the use of biomass feedstocks under the Renewables Obligation (RO)” on 22 August 2013 (the Response). The original consultation was published on 7 September 2012.

In the Response, the UK Government confirms that it will proceed with its proposals to revise the content and significance of the sustainability criteria applicable to the use of solid biomass and biogas feedstocks for electricity generation under the Renewables Obligation (RO). The RO is currently the principal regime for incentivising the development of large-scale renewable electricity generation in the United Kingdom. Eligible electricity generators receive renewables obligation certificates (ROCs) for each megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable source electricity that they generate. Biomass qualifies as renewable source electricity, subject to some conditions.

Changes to the criteria

The sustainability criteria associated with the RO is broadly divided into greenhouse gas (GHG) lifecycle criteria, land use criteria and profiling criteria. There will be changes to all of the criteria, but the significant changes relate to the first two criteria, and will take effect from 1 April 2014.

In general terms, the GHG lifecycle criteria are designed to ensure that each delivery of biomass results in a minimum GHG emissions saving, when compared to the use of fossil fuel. The savings are measured in kilograms (kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) per MWh over the lifecycle of the consignment (sometimes referred to as “field or forest to flame”). The UK Government has confirmed that all generating plants using solid biomass and / or biogas (including dedicated, co-firing or converted plants and new and existing plants) will be on the same GHG emissions trajectory from 1 April 2020 (200 kg CO2eq per MWh). In the meantime, new dedicated biomass power will be placed on an accelerated GHG emissions trajectory (240kg CO2eq per MWh). All other biomass power will remain on the standard GHG emissions trajectory (285kg CO2eq per MWh) until 1 April 2020.

Changes to the land use criteria will also be introduced. In particular, generating plants using feedstocks which are virgin wood or made from virgin wood will need to meet new sustainable forest management criteria based on the UK Government’s timber procurement policy principles.

The land use criteria set out in the European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive 2009 (RED) will continue to apply to the use of all other solid biomass and biogas, with some specific variations for energy crops. As is the current position, the land use criteria will not apply to the use of biomass waste or feedstocks wholly derived from waste, animal manure or slurry.

The new sustainability criteria will be fixed until 1 April 2027, except if the EU mandates or recommends specific changes to the sustainability criteria for solid biomass, biogas or bioliquids, or if changes are otherwise required by EU or international regulation.

Making compliance mandatory

Currently, whilst generators using [...]

Continue Reading



read more

Possible UK Power Shortages Raise Concerns

by | Aug 21, 2013 | , ,

by Thomas Morgan and David McDonnell 

A warning from the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, on 27 June 2013, that the ‘buffer’ capacity of spare electricity on the UK’s national power grid could drop to as little as 2% of national supplies by 2015, has raised concerns in relation to the possibility of widespread disruptions in service. This spare capacity currently stands at about 4%.

The warning was linked to an extensive Electricity Capacity Assessment Report, also published by Ofgem that same day. Revised studies have indicated that power supplies will shrink considerably by 2015, as electricity demand in the United Kingdom is not decreasing in the manner previously foreseen by successive governments. This is due to a variety of factors, among them, the low uptake by residential households of environmentally friendly incentives and energy-efficient practices.

Ofgem recommends the implementation of far-reaching market changes proposed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Among other things, DECC stated in a report, also published on 27 June 2013, that the UK electricity sector will require approximately £110 billion of capital investment in the next decade to modernise its infrastructure. This would create opportunities for investment which a range of market players are likely to monitor with interest.

DECC has also emphasised the need for a ‘Capacity Market’ – essentially an insurance policy against the possibility of future blackouts – which would work by providing financial incentives to generators to keep a certain percentage of energy capacity in reserve to cope with spikes in demand.

The British government has been quick to retort to concerns of service disruption, downplaying the risk of blackouts to domestic consumers and, while it is unlikely that blackouts reminiscent of those experienced in the United Kingdom in the 1970s will be relived, the very publication of a formal warning from Ofgem highlights the potential significance of the concern.



read more

Is There Bipartisan Support for an Energy Security Trust?

by | Feb 15, 2013 | ,

by William Friedman

President Obama proposed in his State of the Union creating an Energy Security Trust to invest in research and technology that will “shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.”  Oil and gas lease revenues, estimated at $150 billion over the next decade, would fund the Trust.  The idea of the Trust is more than 30 years old and was recently endorsed by the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  While predicting what Congress will do is a fool’s errand, there is some reason to think that an Energy Security Trust could become a reality.

President Carter in 1979 asked Congress to pass a windfall profits tax on oil company revenues in order to establish a trust that would be used to “protect low income families from energy price increases, to build a more efficient mass transportation system, and to put American genius to work solving our long-range energy problems.” More recently, Energy Security Trust Fund bills were proposed in 2007 and 2009.  The 2009 bill, entitled “America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009,” proposed an excise tax on “carbon substances” including coal, petroleum products and natural gas.  The tax would have collected $15 per ton of carbon dioxide content in taxable substances sold by manufacturers, producers or importers and would have escalated at a base rate of $10 each year.  The proposed trust fund would have been used to finance research in clean energy technology, assist industries negatively affected by the bill, and provide payroll tax relief to individual taxpayers.  Neither the 2007 bill nor the 2009 bill, (both proposed by Rep. John Larson (D-CT.)) passed in Congress.

Unlike these previous proposals, President Obama’s proposal does not rely on tax revenues and instead resembles a recent energy policy blueprint put forward by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  Senator Murkowski’s plan, “Energy 20/20: A Vision for America’s Energy Future,” calls for an Advanced Energy Trust Fund that would be funded by rents, royalties, bonus bids and corporate income taxes.  Murkowski also advocates opening up federal lands like Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and other offshore resources and using those revenues to fund a trust.  The Advanced Energy Trust Fund would be administered by the Department of Energy and used to pay for advances in renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.

The White House has not released details yet on how the proposed Trust would be funded or administered. Unlike Senator Murkowski, the President is unlikely to support opening ANWR for drilling, which environmental groups have long opposed.  Yet, some version of an Energy Trust has support on both sides of the aisle.



read more

Renewable Energy Certificates: New Trading Platform

by | May 21, 2012 | ,

by Rashpaul Bahia

On May 8, 2012, STX Services B.V. (STX), launched an electronic trading platform for the sale and purchase of renewable energy certificates relating to power consumption within the European Union. 

The new platform will allow for the trading of Guarantee of Origin (GoO) certificates which provide proof to the final customer that the energy produced was from renewable sources.  GoO certificates were introduced by the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive. One GoO certificate represents the generation of one megawatt hour of electricity.

STX, an Amsterdam-based brokerage firm dealing in environmental based commodities, held its first auction on May 8, 2012 and is likely to hold another one towards the end of May 2012.  STX has stated that it hopes to eventually run daily auctions, and expand to include other renewable energy certificates.

STX feels that the advantages of the new trading platform are that:

  • buyers and sellers of GoO certificates can participate concurrently;
  • buyers and sellers can login to the platform from wherever they are located;
  • the supply and demand dynamic of the online auction will result in the realization of a true and fair market price; and
  • it provides greater liquidity in an otherwise fragmented international market.

More than 25 percent of the most active market participants attended the first auction, during which 100,000 GoOs were bought and sold at a clearing price of €0.37.  Participants in this first auction pointed to, amongst other things, the transparency and efficiency engendered by the new platform.

The launch of this new trading platform comes at a time when the European Commission is actively looking at ways to regulate and increase the transparency of commodity markets.  Proposals include establishing transparent trading venues. STX has designed its new platform with this in mind, and hopes that it will enable all participants to buy and sell renewable energy certificates on a level playing field.

In addition, the new platform represents a further development and expansion in the trading of green power. 



read more

BLOG EDITORS

David Birchall

Martha Groves Pugh

Jacob Hollinger

STAY CONNECTED

Subscribe

TOPICS

ARCHIVES

Ranked In Chambers USA 2022
GCR 100 global elite