Neeraj Arora

Neeraj has received recognition for his work from, among others, The Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Chambers Global. Clients described him as someone who “has broad and deep experience in energy transactions and is very business-minded.” 

Neeraj also regularly advises clients on procurement contracts for electric infrastructure projects, for which he has negotiated on both the utility and the developer side for a number of significant projects with an aggregate value in excess of US $4 billion. He negotiates procurement contracts spanning conventional and renewable generation projects, as well as energy storage projects for which he has provided counsel on power purchase agreements (PPAs), construction agreements, build-own-transfer agreements, equipment supply agreements, and long-term services agreements.

Energy Project Finance

• esVolta in connection with the nonrecourse portfolio project financing of standalone in-front-of-the-meter energy storage projects in California
• Nexamp in connection with a warehouse loan facility for the construction financing of distributed solar generation projects
• An institutional investor in connection with construction, tax equity bridge, and term debt financing of multiple utility scale solar projects
• Akuo Energy in connection with the tax equity and debt financing of the Rocksprings project in Texas
• BNP Paribas, Citibank, GE, and MUFG in connection with the greenfield construction financing of the 1,028 MW Moxie Freedom Project located in Pennsylvania
• Credit Agricole and a group of commercial banks in connection with the refinancing of a portfolio of assets owned by Southwest Generation
• Diamond Generating Corporation in connection with the financing and refinancing of a 200-MW natural gas peaking project located in Northern California
• Vantage in connection with the Term Loan B construction financing of an ethane pipeline, which spans approximately 430 miles from the United States to Canada, and which was named the North American Downstream Oil & Gas Deal of the Year in 2013 by Project Finance Magazine
• Sempra Energy in connection with the construction financing of a two-phase 150-MW photovoltaic solar power project located in Boulder City, Nevada, and another 250-MW photovoltaic solar power project located in Boulder City, Nevada
• GE in connection with the construction financing of a 584-MW combined cycle gas-fired power project
• CoBank in connection with the financing of a 47-MW biomass power project located near Mecca, Riverside County, California
• A private equity fund in connection with its financing of an approximately 235-mile transmission line in the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zone
• An independent power producer in connection with the financing of a 30-MW geothermal power project located in Nevada
• A sponsor in connection with the financing of an alternative energy technology to expand an existing refinery to generate synthetic diesel

Project Agreements

• An investor-owned utility in connection with the development of a form solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement and the negotiation thereof for various projects
• An independent power producer in connection with the development of two energy storage projects in San Diego on an expedited basis in connection with the California Public Utilities Commission’s resolution for an emergency energy storage solicitation, one of which is the largest lithium-ion battery project in the world as of January 2017
• An independent power producer in connection with the negotiation of an off-take arrangement for a solar-plus-storage project across from the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative
• An independent power producer in connection with the development of an energy storage project across from a midwestern utility
• Multiple developers in connection with their bids into requests for offers for energy storage projects across from each of the three major California investor-owned utilities
• AES Southland in connection with its negotiation of power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison Company for more than 1,200 MW of new combined cycle gas-fired generation in Southern California
• Competitive Power Ventures in connection with its negotiation of a power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison Company for the Sentinel Project, an approximately 800-MW gas-fired peaking generator in Southern California
• A leading energy storage developer in connection with engineering, procurement, and construction agreements; build-own-transfer agreements; and power purchase agreements, in each case, for utility-scale, in-front-of-the-meter lithium-ion battery energy storage projects

Power Project M&A and Joint Ventures 

• AES Redondo Beach in connection with the sale of the 1,310 MW Redondo Beach gas-fired power plant
• hep energy USA in connection with various corporate and project investments in the United States related to the development of solar generation projects
• Diamond Generating Corporation in connection with its investment and ultimate acquisition of Nexamp, a distributed solar energy project developer
• Osaka Gas USA in connection with its investment and strategic partnership with SolAmerica Energy, a distributed solar energy project developer
• Competitive Power Ventures in connection with the sale of an interest in the 800-MW gas-fired peaking generator in Southern California
• A municipal utility in connection with the sale of substantially all of its generation and transmission assets, including interests in transmission lines and a combined cycle generating station