Dewey & LeBoeuf

Sean M. Moran

Partner

Sean M. Moran is a partner at the international law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf and managing partner of their Los Angeles office. Mr. Moran is also a co-chair of the firm's Renewable and Clean Energy Industry Sector Group. His practice deals with renewable energy, project finance and infrastructure assets. In renewable energy, Mr. Moran has represented equity investors and was instrumental in the creation and use of the PAPS structure, which has since become the standard for renewable energy deals closed in the United States. Since the first groundbreaking transaction (Sweetwater I), Mr. Moran has continued to lead the field and has handled many of the largest and most complex of these transactions (see below), including the recently closed Alta Wind leveraged lease. His clients are among the largest investors in the renewable energy market, and collectively they have invested more than $15 billion in renewable energy generation. These solar, geothermal, biomass, biofuels, waste-to-energy and wind facilities are located in 32 states and generate over 13000 megawatts per annum. Mr. Moran also represents clients in fossil fuel energy generation facilities and other infrastructure projects, including coal, natural gas and oil and gas facilities, transmission systems, toll roads, transportation systems, and water and waste treatment facilities. His clients are Fortune 25/50 companies, as well as a broad variety of investors, utilities, sponsors, and developers.

Mr. Moran has an LLM in tax from New York University School of Law. He earned his law degree from Fordham University School of Law where he was a member of the Fordham Law Review. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences, and has published articles in a variety of publications.

Representative Matters

Mr. Moran has represented clients in almost every aspect of the wave of power projects done through partnerships, tax-credit structures, leveraged leases or other structured vehicles in recent years. A sampling of the transactions in which Mr. Moran has represented the principal investors/participants includes the following:

The Alta wind power projects currently being developed by Terra-Gen Power, which, upon completion, will be the first leveraged lease financing of a wind power project;
The $275 million Dixie Valley geothermal project;
Armenia wind project (first leveraged transaction to claim the cash grant);
The $325 million Peace Garden wind power project portfolio developed by NextEra;
The $240 million Rail Splitter wind power project, one of the first power projects to use Treasury grants in lieu of ITCs as an integral part of the project's capital structure;
The $200 million Lost Lakes wind project, which also utilized Treasury grants in lieu of ITCs;
The acquisition and related project financing of a utility scale solar power project developed by Sunpower;
The financing by an affiliate of a major U.S. utility of several portfolios of solar power projects developed by Solar City;
The financing by an affiliate of a major utility of a portfolio of solar power projects developed by Sun Run;
Sheffield a 40 MW wind farm located in Sheffield, Vermont;
Rollins a 60 MW wind farm located in Penobscot County, Maine;
Glacier II wind project (first transaction in the tax equity market to claim the cash grant from Treasury pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009);
Vento wind projects portfolio (a value over $1.4 billion);
Invenergy wind project portfolio (the first renewable transaction to access infrastructure fund investors);
Red Hills wind project;
Smoky Hills II wind project;
Sun Edison solar (photovoltaic) systems projects (a multiphase sale/leaseback of solar panels located in numerous states);
Glacier I wind project;
Stanton wind project;
Alite wind project;
Shiloh II leveraged wind project;
Geneva biomass facility (utilizing innovative trash combustion technology);
Camp Springs 2 wind project;
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2;
Sand Bluff wind project;
Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2;
Buffalo Gap 3 wind project;
Frontier Wind project portfolio;
Coso geothermal power project (the largest geothermal transaction closed to date in the US);
Cedar Creek wind project;
Perry Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1;
Munnsville wind project;
Lake Benton and Storm Lake wind projects;
Kaheawa wind project;
Nevada Solar One solar project (the largest solar facility built in the US in 17 years);
Camp Springs 1 wind project;
Buffalo Gap 2 wind project;
Mars Hill wind project;
Whirlwind wind project;
Locust Ridge wind project;
Aeolus Wind Power 2 wind projects portfolio;
Burney Forest biomass facility;
Aeolus Wind Power 1 wind projects portfolio;
Buffalo Gap wind project;
Bear Creek and Jersey Atlantic wind projects;
San Juan Mesa wind project;
Sweetwater 3 wind project;
Puna geothermal power project (involving the only commercial producer of geothermal energy in Hawaii);
Waterford Steam Electric Generating Station Unit No. 3;
Caprock wind project;
Sweetwater 2 wind project;
Oasis wind project;
Blue Canyon wind project;
Sweetwater 1 wind project (which was the first wind power transaction to be financed by institutional equity investors);
Calpine Peakers transaction (which utilized an innovative partnership structure together with Rule 144A financing to finance a power purchase agreement with the California Department of Water Resources; a transaction which established the template for a project financing done through a leveraged lease on the strength of a related party tolling contract);
Homer City (the landmark transaction which is the largest project financing of a single-asset merchant project done to date and the first to be consummated through a leveraged lease);
A major oil products pipeline expansion on behalf of one of the leading US oil pipelines;
Southern Energy Mid-Atlantic genco transaction (which was the largest genco financing done in the leveraged lease market);
Calpine Geysers transaction (which established the template for a sponsor-supported pure merchant project financing done through a leveraged lease); and
SEGS solar facilities.