Scott Cockerham

Scott Cockerham

Partner

Scott is US Co-Head of Energy, Infrastructure and Natural Resources, providing practical tax and commercial advice in relation to the development, financing (including tax equity financing and tax credit transferability transactions), purchase and sale of energy and infrastructure projects.
He regularly advises clients on the tax aspects of investments across the renewable energy and energy transition landscape, including solar, on-shore and off-shore wind, battery storage, hydrogen, fuel cell, geothermal, biomass and carbon capture utilization and sequestration projects.

Experience

Representative matters

Maxeon Solar Technologies on the equity structuring and financing for the first large-scale PV cell and panel manufacturing in New Mexico. 

GCM Grosvenor on its acquisition of up to 22% stake in Vesper Energy from Magnetar Capital.

A multinational financial institution as tax equity investor in multiple syndicated tax equity financings for utility scale, C&I and residential solar assets with various upper tier investors.

Advantage Capital as tax equity investor in multiple syndicated tax equity financings for utility scale, C&I and residential solar assets with various upper tier investors.

SunPower Corporation in relation to a solar lease receivables financing transaction with a global financial institution as tax equity and senior debt provider and an investment company as cash equity and mezzanine debt provider.

A national specialty finance firm in connection with the arrangement of a purchase of federal tax credits from the subsidiary of a publicly traded industrial & real estate group.

A multinational financial institution, a long-standing firm client, on its 80 MW/320 MWh Sagebrush battery storage project, located in Kern County, CA, being developed by Terra-Gen, LLC. venture.

A purchaser of production tax credits to be generated by a utility scale solar project. 

A purchaser of investment tax credits and 45Z credits to be generated by a portfolio of renewable natural gas projects.

A sponsor in a tax credit transfer agreement for the purchase of ITC tax credits from a standalone storage project.

Green Street Power Partners, a leading U.S.-based developer, financier, owner and operator of distributed generation solar projects, on the sale of a majority equity interest to DIF Capital Partners.

Chevron New Energies on its collaboration with Raven SR and Hyzon Motors to develop, construct and own a green waste-to-hydrogen production facility in Richmond, California, that will supply hydrogen fuel to transportation markets in Northern California. 

MyPower Corp. on the full acquisition of Solstice Power Technologies, a service provider specializing in customer management for community solar development. 

Equinor on the 100% acquisition of U.S.-based privately owned battery storage developer East Point Energy, whose assets include a 4.1 GW current pipeline of early to mid-stage battery storage projects focused on the U.S. East Coast. 

Intersect Power, a clean energy company, on a USD750m growth equity investment from TPG Rise Climate, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, LLC and Trilantic Energy Partners North America. 

ORIX Corporation USA in a tax equity investment by its special opportunities group in three anaerobic digestion projects in Iowa and South Dakota which will produce usable RNG while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Recurrent Energy on the sale of the 105 MW solar plus 80 MWh storage Gaskell West 2 and 3 projects in Kern County, California, to Matrix Renewables. 

Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure Co. in its strategic co-investment and co-development partnership with Solariant Capital to develop over 1.0 GWac of solar + 2.5 GWh of BESS projects in the Southeastern and Southwestern U.S. 

Excelsior Energy Capital in their purchase of the 204.7 MW White Creek Wind Project in Washington. 

Generate Capital on its equity investment in a green energy supplier, a leader in the U.S. renewable transportation fuel industry, to expand its dairy RNG portfolio. 

CleanCapital on the acquisition of a 65.3 MW solar asset portfolio spanning 12 states from BR Group Holdings, LLC. 

Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure in its investment in three early stage solar + storage projects with a total capacity of 280 MW + 145 MW / 580 MWh of energy storage capacity in New Mexico. 

MEAG, acting in its capacity as a multinational insurance company's global asset manager, on the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Maverick 6 Solar + Storage Project, a 131 MW solar + 50 MW battery storage system, and the 179 MW Maverick 7 Solar Project in Riverside County, California, from EDF Renewables. 

A utility-scale renewable energy developer in the sale of its pipeline of high-quality utility-scale solar and storage projects totalling 20 GW across 12 states. 

The Wunder Company and ClearGen LLC in the creation of a cash equity joint venture for the development of commercial-scale solar projects across the U.S. 

CleanCapital in the acquisition of a portfolio of 43 project entities, consisting of approximately 65 MW of operating PV solar projects from Kenyon Energy. 

Recurrent Energy in a joint venture with Axium Infrastructure for the combined 350 MW Crimson battery storage project in Riverside County, California. 

Apex Clean Energy in a complex refinancing of a portfolio for two wind energy projects and a solar project in Texas that was being restructured in the aftermath of the February 2021 severe Winter Storm Uri and the resulting Texas energy market disruptions. 

A gas and oil company in its joint venture formation with Simply Blue Energy for the development of floating offshore wind projects in the U.S. 

KKR as cash equity investor in an approximately USD1.1bn investment in a 1,625 MW portfolio of 12 solar and wind projects developed by NextEra Energy Resources and NextEra Energy Partners, LP. 

Cypress Creek Renewables as sponsor in an inverted lease tax equity and back-leverage debt financing for a 98 MW utility-scale solar project. 

True Green Capital Management as sponsor in a partnership flip tax equity financing of a portfolio of distributed generation solar assets. 

A major technology company as tax equity investor in a partnership flip financing of a fuel cell project in New York City that will monetize benefits from NYSERDA’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) program. 

True Green Capital Management as sponsor in a sale-leaseback financing for a portfolio of solar projects. 

GSO Capital Partners LP, an affiliate of Blackstone, in its preferred and common equity investment in Altus Power America, Inc. and in securing an investment-grade term loan facility and a construction-to-term loan facility for Altus Power America, a market-leading solar developer that provides clean electricity to commercial, industrial and municipal clients across the U.S. The transaction resulted in USD850m of funded and committed capital to Altus Power to refinance its existing capital structure and fund future development. 

A global alternative investment management firm in the sale of its equity interest in the 130 MW Arlington Valley Solar Energy II (AVSE II) project in Maricopa County, Arizona. 

Cypress Creek Renewables on a mezzanine debt financing backed by a 1.6 GW portfolio of operating solar projects, and a senior financing of a portfolio of 14 operating solar projects, and the structuring of related tax equity buyouts funded with debt proceeds. 

Sammons Renewable Energy, as developer, in the acquisition and tax equity financing of a 162.9 MW wind project in Texas with two large bank investors. 

Sammons Renewable Energy in the acquisition of a 194 MW portfolio of operating solar projects from Heelstone Energy. The 36 project portfolio produces enough electricity to power approximately 26,400 homes. 

Global Infrastructure Partners in connection with its USD1.375bnacquisition of a controlling interest in NRG Yield, Inc. 

A multinational financial institution and SunTrust Bank in an aggregate USD101m tax equity investment in a portfolio of residential rooftop solar projects developed by Vivint Solar. 

Recurrent Energy in the sale of a 535 MW portfolio of California utility-scale solar assets to Shenzhen Energy and Korea Electric Power. 

Advantage Capital Partners in the formation of a large tax equity fund and the deployment of fund capital in five separate tax equity transactions with different sponsors. 

A subsidiary of a multinational financial institution in two tax equity funds of commercial and small utility-scale solar assets developed by Onyx Renewable Partners. 

8minutenergy Renewables, LLC in the sale of its 328 MW Mount Signal 3 solar project to Capital Dynamics. The project is the third phase of the 800 MW Mount Signal Solar Farm, which is among the largest solar projects in the world. 

A green energy supplier in connection with two tax equity funds with community solar assets in Massachusetts and Minnesota. 

A subsidiary of a multinational financial institution in the tax equity and debt financing of an approximately 100.5 MW wind project developed by NRG Renew LLC. 

Scout Clean Energy and Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners as developers in the tax-equity financing of a 200 MW wind farm in Oklahoma in which EFS Renewables was the tax equity investor. 

Falck Renewables in the acquisition of Recurrent Energy’s sponsor interest in an existing tax equity partnership that owned a 71 MW utility-scale solar project in North Carolina. This was Falck Renewables’ first investment in a U.S. solar asset. 

SunPower Corporation in connection with the sale of a sponsor-equity interest in a portfolio of residential rooftop solar projects and the acquisition of an approximately USD53m back-leverage credit facility from Investec. 

Sunnova in two tax equity transactions involving large portfolios of residential solar projects. 

SunPower Corporation as developer in the tax equity financing of two portfolios of residential rooftop solar systems with two large bank investors. 

AES Distributed Energy as developer in the tax equity financing of an approximately 90 MW portfolio of distributed generation solar assets across multiple states.

Published Work

  • "The Nuts and Bolts of IRS Domestic Content,” Law360, May 17, 2023 
  • “IRS Guidance on Domestic Content – What Renewable Energy Companies Need to Know,” JD Supra May 16, 2023 
  • “IRA: Energy Communities and Brownfields Tax Guidance: What Companies Need To Know,” JD Supra, April 7, 2023 
  • “IRA Update: What to Know About the New Guidance on Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship Requirements,” JD Supra, December 22, 2022 

Speaking Engagements

  • Panelist, "Technical Hot Topics," Novogradac 2023 Fall Renewable Energy and Environmental Tax Credits Conference, Washington, DC, November 2, 2023
  • Moderator, “How will IRA’s Transferability Affect Investment Strategies?”, Infocast Clean Energy Investment Summit, Houston, TX, October 2, 2023
  • Panelist, “IRA Energy Tax Credits,” Institute of International Bankers Tax Seminar, New York, NY, June 15, 2023
  • Speaker, "Tax Incentives Overview," Northwestern University Institute for Sustainability and Energy, April 6, 2023

Awards

  • Named as a Readers’ Choice Top Author 2023 by JD Supra
  • The Legal 500 USA: Recognized for Energy: Renewable/Alternative Power, 2020; US Taxes: Non-Contentious and Project Finance, 2019
  • Pro Bono Attorney of the Year 2015, Tahirih Justice Center, Washington, D.C.

Qualifications

Admissions

Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2024

Admitted to the Bar of the State of New York, 2020

Admitted to the Bar of the District of Colombia, 2012

Academic

LL.M., New York University School of Law, 2010

J.D., The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, magna cum laude, 2009

B.A., The University of Arizona, summa cum laude, 2006

Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.