Project Development & Finance

We guide clients from the initial phases of due diligence, project structuring, site selection, and planning, through site acquisition, permitting, financing, construction, startup, testing, and commercial operation and management. We can help guide you with our contract preparation and negotiation experience in large development projects, including with:

• Site selection issues, including interconnection requirements, such as access to transmission grids, first class rail, port and dock facilities, and heavy haul roads, as well as the availability fuel and water supplies, and related project logistics
• Land use and zoning, as well as the analysis of available tax abatements and/or the creation of free enterprise zones
• Site acquisition agreements including long-term option agreements and long-term ground leases
• Environmental site assessment and environmental permitting
• NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) disputes
• Construction contracts including Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC); design build; Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM); and other structures
• Power Purchase and Transportation Agreements
• Fuel Supply and Transportation Agreements
• Operation and Maintenance Agreements (O&M)
• Long-Term Parts and Service Agreements (LTSA)

Our work on project financing involves all types of conventional financing as well as a variety of equity investments and syndications, joint ventures and partnerships, public and private securities issuances, various forms of construction and long-term loans, subordinated debt, sale/leaseback transactions, taxable and tax-free bond financings, and the purchase and sale of facilities and interests in facilities.

We frequently develop novel financing instruments and advise clients on issues in which lenders, borrowers, and sponsors join in complex risk-sharing arrangements tailored to meet the requirements of the particular project. On international projects this may include evaluation and assessment of political risk, currency risk, and cross-border risk. Jones Walker's project development and finance team handles projects throughout the Gulf-south region of the United States, from Texas to Florida, and on an international basis, with a particular focus in Latin America, supported by a robust team of experienced, bilingual attorneys across our geographical footprint.