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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Real Property - Transactions

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Thursday, November 2, 2023

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$347.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will provide counsel with guidance on drafting legal agreements used to establish site control for renewable energy projects via purchase, lease, and/or easement to create and maintain real estate rights for the project as well as recording a memorandum of the site control agreement to provide constructive notice of property rights to third parties. The panel will address real estate due diligence issues and threshold considerations related to renewable energy projects. The panel will also discuss provisions unique to site control agreements and best practices for negotiation and drafting.

Faculty

David Streier
Partner
Parent: Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.

Mr. Streier combines his experience in the energy and real estate industries to serve solar, wind and energy storage developers, independent power producers, utility companies, real estate developers, landlords, tenants and investors. He focuses his practice in the areas of energy project development and financing, commercial real estate transactions and leasing, and real estate aspects of mergers and acquisitions. With a focus on project site control, Mr. Streier drafts and reviews wind and solar energy leases, and easement agreements, purchase agreements and other real estate documents. He has extensive experience with performing title and survey review and corrective work to obtain financeable site control. Mr. Streier assists clients in reviewing, negotiating and drafting documents, such as purchase and sale agreements, leases and related documents, easements, declarations and conveyance documents. He also manages the review of due diligence materials for commercial real estate and energy transactions, including real estate agreement surveys, title commitments, proformas and underlying title exception documents.

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Christine Fernandez Owen
Shareholder
Clean Law, PC

Ms. Owen provides legal services to developers, owners, and operators of wind, solar, and energy storage projects. Her practice is focused on the support of development efforts of renewable projects, including negotiation of site control documents, title and other real estate review, environmental diligence, negotiation of commercial contracts used in the development and construction of renewable energy projects, and diligence in support of acquisitions of renewable energy projects. Ms. Owen has more than 10 years’ experience in the renewable energy industry and was previously Assistant General Counsel at one of the world’s largest owners of renewable energy projects. There, she served as lead counsel for the solar business unit, advising on all legal matters affecting the development, construction, and maintenance of utility-scale solar energy projects, as well as diligence and negotiation of acquisitions and divestitures. Ms. Owen also advised the sheChristine worked in the environmental practice group of a large law firm doing both transaction work and litigation. 

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Description

Renewable energy projects must secure long-term site control rights via purchase, lease, and/or easement to create and maintain real estate rights for the project--from permitting the use of real property for initial due diligence and project planning purposes to, ultimately, the construction and maintenance of the renewable energy project on the property.

Prior to drafting any agreements, counsel must identify potential land rights and title issues, and possible issues stemming from competing interests, as well as establish the scope of the rights and property under the site control agreement to ensure these are all adequately addressed in the agreement. Typical site control agreements include options, leases, easements, and purchase agreements. Whichever type of agreement is used for site control, counsel must be aware of the considerations and terms unique to these agreements that differ from standard real estate transactional contracts.

In addition to drafting the agreement, and in order to evidence site control, a memorandum of the site control agreement should be recorded in the public records for the jurisdiction in which the property subject to the agreement is located. Recording a memorandum of site control provides constructive notice of the developer's real property rights that allow for development, construction, and operation of the project to all third parties, including possible buyers and subsequent owners of the property, so as to protect the real property rights of the developer and allow the developer to obtain title insurance coverage, as required to obtain financing and construct the project.

Listen as our expert panel discusses due diligence and threshold considerations for counsel prior to drafting site control agreements for renewable energy projects. The panel will describe the types of agreements used to establish site control, provisions unique to each, and best practices for negotiation and drafting.

Outline

  1. Real estate due diligence and threshold considerations prior to drafting the site control agreement
  2. Drafting the agreement (purchases, leases, easements)
    1. Unique provisions and drafting considerations
  3. Recording the memorandum of the site control agreement
    1. Purpose of recording the memorandum
    2. Provisions to be included in the memorandum
  4. Best practices for negotiation and drafting

Benefits

The panel will review these and other important considerations:

  • What are due diligence and threshold considerations for counsel prior to drafting site control agreements?
  • How do the terms and provisions of site control agreements differ from standard real estate transactional contracts?
  • What provisions should be contained in the memorandum of the site control agreement, and what is the purpose of recording the memorandum?