Energy & Public Utility Law

Practice Overview

Drummond Woodsum provides the full range of energy and public utility law services required by today’s developers, businesses, landowners, utilities, and natural resource companies.

Using an interdisciplinary team approach, Drummond Woodsum helps our clients with development projects of any size, public utility law regulatory proceedings before state public utility regulatory bodies and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, equity offerings and bond issuances, mergers and acquisitions, and services such as environmental, litigation, employment law, and tax advice.

Our attorneys have represented renewable energy developers, generators, landowners, municipalities, school districts, Tribal Nations, businesses, non-profits, environmental organizations as well as utilities across multiple jurisdictions. Our team has special expertise in the legal issues confronting renewable energy developers, suppliers, and customers in Maine’s deregulated electricity market, and we represent independent merchant power producers, consumers and qualifying facilities to help them effectively manage the risks and opportunities of this marketplace.

Representative Clients & Matters

• We routinely represent clients negotiating power purchase agreements, interconnection agreements, net energy billing agreements, and similar transactional arrangements. Representative clients include school districts, municipalities, businesses, non-profits, landowners as well as renewable energy developers.  Recent work includes:
  • Kennebunk Light and Power in negotiating the design, permitting, construction and operation of one of the state’s largest solar arrays.
  • Town of Falmouth in the development of a solar project on their municipal landfill
  • City of Auburn in net energy billing agreements with solar and hydroelectric generators
  • The Good Shepherd Food Bank in negotiating a lease for a solar development
  • Negotiating various solar development projects for BlueWave Solar, Sunrays Investment, LLC and ReWild Renewables
• Our attorneys and consultants served on the working groups charged with drafting Maine’s landmark bipartisan solar bill (LD 1711) and Renewable Portfolio Standard bill (LD 1494).
  • Our Government Relations/Strategic Consulting team represents many of the leading renewable energy developers and generators, including Nexamp, EDP Renewables and Brookfield Renewable, in matters before the Maine legislature.
• We represent many renewable energy developers, public utilities, generators, investment and holding companies, and other parties in matters before the Maine Public Utilities Commission in a variety of matters, including rate making, corporate restructuring and internal reorganization, investigations, and complaints, and rulemaking. Our clients include The Maine Water Company, NextEra Energy Resources, Repsol, Ullico Infrastructure Fund, Olivewood Solar, and Renergetica.
• Our attorneys and consultants have represented a broad coalition of generators, state legislators, landowners, and environmentalists opposed to the CMP Transmission Corridor, known as the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), in ongoing litigation and matters before state regulators and the Maine Legislature.’