Alex L. Mertens

Alex Mertens is a partner in the Corporate practice group and co-chair of the Energy Industry Group. Alex is experienced in renewable energy finance matters and advises project sponsors, financial institutions, and investors on issues concerning the acquisition, development, financing, and sale of renewable energy projects. Alex regularly advises clients on structuring and negotiating tax equity investments, tax credit transfers, cash equity investments, construction and term loan financings, note purchase agreements, development loan facilities, joint ventures, and M&A transactions.

Education

University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 2006

Haverford College, B.A., Economics, 2001

Admissions

Washington

District of Columbia

• Represented AES Clean Energy in its $1.7 billion warehouse credit facility, which will advance the construction of 3 GW of renewable energy projects across nine states. The financing arrangement is the largest construction warehouse facility for domestic renewable projects and builds on the initial $700 million warehouse credit facility established in January 2022. Stoel Rives also represented AES in the initial transaction.
• Represented Longroad Energy Holdings, a renewable energy developer, in connection with acquisitions of Maricopa County Arizona solar project and storage facilities by its wholly owned subsidiaries. Key project documents for the projects included membership interest purchase and sale agreements, module purchase orders and operations and maintenance agreements.”
• Represented sPower in a $421.4 million private placement, the first-ever broadly distributed back-leverage private placement financing on nine unique tax equity partnerships. The financing backs a portfolio of 41 utility scale solar and wind projects with a total nameplate capacity of 565 MW. The transaction was awarded “North American Renewables Deal of the Year” by Project Finance International, and “North American Renewables Project Finance Deal of the Year” by Power Finance & Risk.
• Represented sPower in its $498 million private placement financing of 16 utility-scale solar projects, totaling 652 MW. The financed portfolio represented approximately half of sPower’s operating portfolio at the time.
• Represented sPower in connection with the $1.58 billion acquisition by AES Corp. and Alberta Management Corp. of the equity interests in sPower. The transaction was awarded “North America M&A Deal of the Year” by Power Finance & Risk.
• Represented sPower in a tax equity investment and syndicated construction and term loan facility totaling $786 million. The debt facility, raised by a syndicate of lenders led by KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., financed a portfolio of nine solar projects in Lancaster, California, with a total nameplate capacity of 339.4 MW.
• Represented Pine Gate Renewables, LLC in its entrance into a partnership with John Hancock in which Pine Gate owns and manages 35 solar facilities totaling 413 MW, located in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oregon, while John Hancock acquires an equity interest in the facilities.
• Represented sPower in the acquisition of a 55 MW solar project in Idaho from York Capital.
• Represented Forefront Power, LLC in the tax equity financing of 64.18 MW of residential community solar projects.

Insights & Presentations

• “Project Finance for Solar Projects” (co-author), Chapter 7, The Law of Solar Energy: A Guide to Business and Legal Issues, Stoel Rives LLP, Sixth Edition, 2022
• Moderator, “What Investors Are Looking For in the U.S. Solar Market,” Infocast Solar Power Finance & Investment Summit, March 2018
• “Other Essential Renewable Project Development Contracts and the Challenge of Making Them Work in Harmony,” PPAs and Contracts for Renewable Energy, Law Seminars International, October 6, 2017
• Program co-chair, Renewable Energy in the Midwest, Law Seminars International, October 3–4, 2017
• Moderator, “Solar Financing Outlook with a Stable ITC in Place,” Infocast Solar Power Finance & Investment Summit, March 2016

• Selected by Chambers Global as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” (USA) for Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, 2020–present
• Selected by Chambers USA as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” (USA—Nationwide) for Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, 2019–present
• Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® (Energy Law), 2022–present
• Listed among Top Women (Business/Corporate), Washington Super Lawyers^®, 2018
• Listed among Rising Stars (Business/Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions), Washington Super Lawyers^®, 2016–2020
• Named a Law360 Rising Star, 2020
• Selected by the Puget Sound Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 honoree, 2019

Professional

• American Bar Association, Member
• Washington State Bar Association, Member
• The District of Columbia Bar, Member
• WRISE (Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy), Member