James M. Berger

Berger's practice focuses on renewable energy, an industry that often fluctuates based on political winds of change.

"The industry has for years been supported by various tax incentives that have constantly changed, so the uncertainty around that is always creating various challenges with financing these projects," he said.

Interest in renewables has been steadily rising as costs drop, Berger said, and his practice has grown with it. Many of his matters are a first of their kind, he said.

"It's now very competitive with fossil fuels even without subsidies and tax credits, so it just makes economic sense for companies to develop renewable energy projects, and various government programs like renewable portfolio standards require utilities to purchase renewable energy," he said.

In the past couple months, Berger closed a year-long financing deal of a solar plus battery storage facility based in Hawaii for Societe Generale and Silicon Valley Bank. Solar plus storage is a battery system that collects energy from solar panels, a relatively new technology that has grown as battery technology improves and becomes less expensive.

"The financing's similar to financing for a regular solar project, but there's some additional technical diligence that has to be done," he said. "Integrating batteries with a solar project is still pretty new."

Berger has also recently worked on a couple wind and solar energy projects. For the 419-MW Mesquite Star wind farm in Texas, he represented San Francisco-based Clearway Energy Group. The project will host 118 wind turbines, with operations to begin in 2020.

He also represented Hannon Armstrong in financing for the Green River wind farm in Illinois.

Berger was also involved in the debt and tax equity financing of the first hedged solar project financed in the U.S., the Phoebe solar project. Upon completion, it will be the largest solar project in Texas, with a 12-year power purchase agreement with Shell Energy North America.

Energy hedges are common in the wind energy space but new territory for solar projects, Berger said.

Going forward, Berger said he expects to see more projects involving battery storage, repowering wind projects and hedged solar deals.

"There's significantly growing interest," he said.

-- Erin Lee