John G. Klauberg

John regularly counsels on transactions involving regulated utilities and unregulated companies, including owners of competitive power generation assets, as well as power trading companies on both the wholesale and retail level. He also has been involved in transactions involving the purchase and sale of energy assets and contract portfolios arising from some of the largest bankruptcies and restructurings in the independent power sector, including Enron.

John also represents clients in renewable and distributed energy transactions—including acquisitions, divestitures, and structured transactions—with matters often involving long-term off-take arrangements with utilities or other traditional off-takers or with corporate purchasers.

Chambers and Partners’ Global and US guides, The Legal 500 US, and IFLR1000 consistently rank John as a leading lawyer in the energy transactions field. In 2016, Law360 named him an MVP of the Year for transactional work in the electric power area, one of only five attorneys nationwide to receive the honor. John frequently serves as speaker at the annual S&P Global Power & Gas Symposium, and at other energy industry conferences and seminars across the United States.

Before joining Morgan Lewis, John was co-chair of the power projects practice of a national law firm and previously was co-head of the utilities, power, and pipelines industry sector group of another global law firm.

• Hydro-Québec, in its approximately $2 billion acquisition of Great River Hydro LLC, an indirect portfolio company of ArcLight Capital Partners, that owns 14 hydro-electric generation facilities totaling approximately 700 megawatts (MW) of capacity and related facilities in the ISO-New England market
• American Electric Power Company Inc. in its approximately $2.8 billion sale of Kentucky Power Company and AEP Kentucky Transmission Company Inc. to Liberty Utilities Co., a subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.
• Summit Utilities Inc., a portfolio company of Infrastructure Investments Fund, in its $2.15 billion acquisition of the Arkansas and Oklahoma gas distribution utility businesses of CenterPoint Energy Inc.
• A portfolio company of an infrastructure fund in its sale of a regulated electric utility in Michigan to Axium UP Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Axium Infrastructure
• ENMAX Corporation in its $1.3 billion acquisition of Emera Maine, a regulated transmission and distribution utility in Maine, from Emera Inc.
• Great Plains Energy in its stock-for-stock merger of equals transaction with Westar Energy, Inc., creating Evergy Inc., a company with a combined equity value of approximately $15 billion with nearly 13,000 MW of generation capacity and more than 51,000 miles of distribution lines
• Hydro One Limited in its proposed $5.3 billion acquisition of Avista Corporation, a regulated electric and gas utility in the Pacific Northwest
• Integrys Energy Group Inc., in its approximately $300 million sale of Upper Peninsula Power Company, a regulated electric utility in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to an infrastructure fund
• Evergy Inc., in its acquisition of the approximately 200 MW Persimmon wind-generating facility in Oklahoma for approximately $250 million from affiliates of Scout Clean Energy and its partners
• Evergy Inc., in its restructuring of its long-term leverage lease and ultimate buyout of its leasehold position in the coal-fired Jeffrey Energy Center
• A portfolio company of an infrastructure fund in its sale of its controlling interest in Texas distributed generation company to affiliates of Generate Capital
• A portfolio company of an infrastructure fund, in its acquisition of Ozark Gas Transmission LLC, the owner of an interstate natural gas pipeline, and Ozark Gas Gathering LLC, the owner of a natural gas gathering system, from a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc.
• Talen Energy Corporation in its $189 million sale of Interstate Energy Company LLC, the owner of a natural gas and oil pipeline in Pennsylvania, to Adelphia Gateway LLC, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources Corporation
• Talen Energy Corporation in its $1.175 billion acquisition of MACH Gen LLC, the holding company of three large natural gas-fired power plants in New York, Massachusetts, and Arizona with a total capacity of over 2,500 MW
• Duke Energy Corporation in its $2.8 billion sale of its entire Midwest merchant generation business to a subsidiary of Dynegy Inc., which included ownership interests in 11 power plants with a total capacity of approximately 6,100 MW, as well as Duke’s competitive retail electric and gas business
• Integrys Energy Group Inc. in its sale of a portfolio of over 50 distributed solar projects to TerraForm Power LLC
• Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation, an affiliate of AVANGRID, in its negotiation with a subsidiary of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group LLC of a reliability support services agreement for the continued operation for reliability purposes of a 581 MW nuclear power plant in Ontario, New York
• Evergy, Inc., in its negotiation of multiple 20-year wind power purchase agreements to purchase power from wind projects totaling approximately 850 MW
• Integrys Energy Group Inc. in its sale of its competitive retail electric and natural gas business, Integrys Energy Services Inc., to Exelon Generation Company LLC
• Integrys Energy Group Inc., in its approximately $300 million sale of Upper Peninsula Power Company, a regulated electric utility in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to an infrastructure fund
• Great Plains Energy Inc. (now Evergy) in its formation of Transource Energy LLC, a joint venture with AEP Transmission Holding Company LLC focused on developing competitive transmission projects in the United States, and the contribution of rights to two regional transmission projects to the venture
• Puget Sound Energy Inc. in its acquisition, development, and construction of over 700 MW of wind-generating facilities
• Puget Sound Energy Inc. in its acquisition of the Ferndale Cogeneration Station, an approximately 270 MW dual-fired combined-cycle cogeneration facility in Whatcom County, Washington, from Tenaska Washington Partners LP
• Puget Sound Energy Inc. in its joint development agreement with RES Americas to jointly develop wind power projects in Washington state
• Direct Energy Services LLC in its $300 million acquisition of Strategic Energy LLC, a major retail electric and gas supplier, from Great Plains Energy
• Puget Sound Energy Inc. in its $120 million acquisition of the 275 MW Goldendale Energy Center from Calpine Corporation