Energy Storage

Energy storage is the most significant development for the electric grid since the explosive growth in renewables over the past two decades. Efforts to promote energy storage are moving rapidly on a global level, presenting significant opportunity for market participants. Orrick’s Energy Storage team has been representing market participants for almost a decade on the development, financing and M&A for an array of energy storage projects around the globe.

Our team has market leading experience working on all aspects of the development, construction, offtake contracts, financing and M&A for battery energy storage and other storage project technologies.

Key members of our team are based in California, which has been ground zero for the first and most important storage projects to date, and we have now worked with our clients throughout the US and globally on hundreds of storage project contracts and transactions representing several GWs of storage projects. We understand not only the legal, contractual and tax issues, but also the commercial and strategic drivers that are fueling the growth of energy storage.

We have advised the leading renewable energy companies on thousands of megawatts of EPC agreements, procurement and BOP arrangements, and BOT and related contracts, as well as a variety of financing (including debt, equity and tax equity) and M&A and joint venture transaction, for both stand-alone storage and renewables generation + battery storage. As recent examples, we are currently handling all EPC and battery supply arrangements, as well as all debt and tax equity arrangements, for a $1.1 billion solar + storage project in the western United States, and have completed a corporate PPA for 500 MW of PV solar co-located with 500 MW of batteries.

While the US market has pioneered energy storage and driven most of the activity over the past decade, the sector is now at an inflection point for global adoption. Europe’s ongoing shift from centralized fossil fuel generation - that can be dispatched to match energy consumption at all times - to renewable energy requires a robust energy storage network for lasting success. In the U.K. alone, which has committed to a net zero transition by 2050, more than 16 GW of battery storage capacity is either operating or in planning stages across over 700 projects – with substantial interest in co-located projects. The Japanese battery storage market is expected to grow rapidly following government directives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition, a shifting regulatory landscape is becoming more amenable to independent power producers operating storage projects. The Orrick teams in the U.K. and Japan have been working with clients on all aspects of the development and M&A of storage projects.