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Helen Aki

Senior Associate

San Francisco

Helen’s practice focuses on project development and financing in the renewable energy sector.

She advises clients on a wide variety of matters, including energy storage and power purchase agreements, debt and tax equity financing, and project acquisitions and sales. She also spent several months on secondment to the project finance group of a major U.S. renewable energy developer. 

As a law student, Helen worked as a summer legal intern in the Administrative Law Judge Division of the California Public Utilities Commission, as a senior business analyst with Pacific Gas and Electric Company and as a legal trainee at Positive Planet UK.

Before practicing law, she led programs with state and local governments and ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs to advance the adoption of clean technologies, including battery storage, virtual power plants, commercial and industrial lighting and advanced building control systems.

  • Project Finance

    • A private investor in the re-financing of its cash equity interests in a portfolio of operating wind projects located in Texas and New Mexico
    • Clearway Energy Group and its affiliates in the construction, letter of credit and term loan financing for a 160.45 MW wind project located in Adams County, Washington
    • A renewable energy developer in the construction, term loan and tax equity financing of a portfolio of community solar and solar-plus-storage projects located in Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York
    • A solar developer in the construction, term loan and tax equity financing of a portfolio of seven utility-scale solar PV projects located in multiple U.S. states
    • Wellhead Energy and its affiliates in the construction and term loan financing of, and a letter of credit facility for, a 99.3 MW hybrid gas-fired/energy storage plant located in California

    Development

    • A solar developer in connection with California PCC1 renewable energy credit sales agreements for several hundred MWs of projects
    • A storage developer in connection with a load-reduction agreement with an electric cooperative in the ISO New England market
    • Multiple developers in connection with solar and solar-plus-storage power purchase agreements with California community choice aggregators
    • A biofuels developer in connection with the operation and maintenance agreement for a wastewater treatment facility located in Nevada
    • The sponsor in connection with the procurement of inverters for its development pipeline of U.S. solar projects

    M&A and Joint Ventures

    • A storage developer in connection with the joint development of a portfolio of stand-alone energy storage facilities in Massachusetts
    • A solar developer in connection with the acquisition of project assets for the development of two utility-scale solar projects in California
    • A developer in the formation of joint venture arrangements for a portfolio of development-stage wind projects in multiple U.S. states