Stoel Rives Helps Launch Solar Industry's First EPC Contract Template
By Howard E. Susman, SolarTech
12/22/2010

Summary:

SolarTech, a non-profit private/public consortium, recently announced the solar industry's first engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract template for solar financing. Whereas a PPA (power purchase agreement), loan agreement or operating lease agreement handle the front-end financing relationship, the EPC agreement handles the execution phase of the project. The template was developed by the SolarTech Finance committee, with the support of Stoel Rives, LLP and KL Gates, LLP, and is projected to reduce contract negotiations by 50 to 75 percent.

"Our guiding principles in developing this form were, first, to achieve sufficient balance in the allocation of risks that both contractor and owner would feel comfortable with the terms, and second, to include provisions typically acceptable to the financial community, without whose acceptance, there would be no projects at all," said Howard Susman, partner at Stoel Rives. "We will endorse the use of this template with our clients and look forward to working more with SolarTech to make balanced and standardized legal instruments an industry norm."

Download the EPC contract template (free for SolarTech members; $395 for non-members)

"SolarTech launches industry's first EPC contract" was distributed by Business Wire, December 15, 2010.