Specialty Teams

We are part of our Firm's national Clean Energy, Climate Change & Sustainability team which includes members from our National Real Estate Group as well as attorneys from our environmental, corporate, utility, finance, intellectual property and litigation practice areas. Several of our attorneys are experienced in the green building field, including construction contracting, LEED certification, and "green" leasing. As our clients begin to focus more and more on sustainability issues, our experience in this area continues to grow and develop.

Recent representative transactions:

While clean energy and sustainability issues have assumed greater prominence today, our real estate attorneys have been working with these issues for a number of years. Some of our more significant transactions include:

• Helping a large investor-owned utility obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for the construction of an 88-turbine, 145-MW wind farm in Wisconsin. As part of this process, we identified required federal, state and municipal approvals.
  
  
• Providing due diligence to the lender underwriting the construction of a 133-turbine, 200-MW wind farm in Wisconsin, which also included an evaluation of the need for and completeness of efforts to obtain relevant federal, state and local approvals.
  
  
• Preparing the application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for a proposed 90-turbine, 207-MW facility, making the case that the proposed generating capacity is the most cost-effective way to achieve compliance with a state Renewable Portfolio Standard.
  
  
• Performing due diligence for the primary lender for a large wind farm project in southeastern Arizona.
  
  
• Representing a wind farm developer in connection with a challenge to a proposed wind farm in Illinois based on Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act concerns.
  
  
• Providing the real estate, environmental, financing, tax and regulatory legal support for the construction and operation of a solar generation facility adjacent to a gas turbine power plant in southern Arizona.
  
  
• Assisting a developer in identifying the necessary permits and other approvals for the construction of a 45 MW thermal solar power project in Arizona.
  
  
• Assisting a developer in navigating the approval process under tribal laws for the construction and operation of a thermal solar addition to an existing electric generating station located on tribal land.
  
  
• Representing the ownership of an idled paper mill in central Wisconsin in its efforts to sell the mill for its eventual redevelopment as a biorefinery.
  
  
• Representing a large Midwestern electrical utility in its acquisition of a former coal-fired generation facility and the conversion of the facility into a wood-waste fueled facility.
  
  
• Assisting a prominent Wisconsin developer in its acquisition and leasing of the site for the manufacture of the first high-percentage fly ash bricks to be commercialized in the United States.

For more information on how our Alternative Energy Team can assist with your real estate needs, please contact Diane M. Haller at (602) 229-5625 or .