Lenders on a project financing look to the project itself for repayment: its revenue contracts, its construction contracts, and the cash it generates once it runs. The sponsor's balance sheet stands behind the deal only in limited, negotiated ways. That makes every project document a credit document. We represent sponsors, developers, lenders, and technology providers on solar, storage, wind, data center, broadband, and industrial projects, and we bring the same team to the table when the deal is signed and when it later goes wrong. Because our founding partner was a software engineer, we read the technology licenses and control-system terms inside a project as closely as the loan agreement.
When Project Finance Fits
Project finance makes sense when an asset can carry its own debt. A sponsor forms a special purpose vehicle that owns the project, signs the contracts, and borrows on a non-recourse or limited-recourse basis, so lenders can reach the project assets and the equity in the SPV but not the sponsor's other businesses. The structure shows up in renewable generation, battery storage, transmission, fiber networks, water and waste facilities, and increasingly in data centers and manufacturing plants. It is slower and more document-heavy than corporate lending, and it rewards sponsors who lock down the revenue and construction contracts before they approach lenders, since those contracts are what the credit committee actually underwrites.
The Contract Stack Lenders Underwrite
The core documents are the offtake agreement, the EPC contract, the operations and maintenance agreement, the site and interconnection rights, and the financing documents that tie them together. A power purchase agreement or capacity contract supplies predictable revenue. A fixed-price, date-certain EPC contract, backed by delay and performance liquidated damages, a parent guarantee, and letters of credit, moves construction risk to the contractor. Lenders take a security interest in everything, including the SPV's equity, and sign direct agreements with each key counterparty that give the lender notice of defaults, extended cure periods, and the right to step in or replace the borrower. Tax equity or tax credit transfers under IRC Section 6418 often sit alongside the debt and need their own intercreditor terms.
Technology And IP Inside Projects
Many projects depend on licensed technology: a proprietary electrolyzer or battery chemistry, a carbon capture process, a turbine control system, or the software that runs a data center's power and cooling. Lenders need to know the project can keep using that technology if the sponsor fails or the lender forecloses. We negotiate licenses that are assignable to lenders and successors, survive a change of control, cover improvements and updates, and include source code or know-how escrow where the licensor is a startup. We also review performance warranties tied to the technology, since a process that underperforms its guaranteed output can break the financial model even when construction finishes on time. That is where our engineering background earns its keep.
When Projects End In Dispute
Project disputes tend to arrive in clusters: the contractor claims a change order or force majeure, the owner calls the letter of credit for delay damages, the offtaker asserts a default, and the lenders reserve rights. We represent owners, sponsors, contractors, and lenders in these fights, whether they run through the contract's dispute board, AAA or ICC arbitration, or state and federal court. We work up the schedule and causation evidence early, protect the client's position under the notice provisions that decide many of these cases, and keep the financing in view so a construction dispute does not trigger a cross-default under the loan. When a lender has to enforce, we handle step-in, foreclosure on the SPV equity, and receivership.
Mistakes That Cost Sponsors Money
The most expensive errors are mismatches. An EPC delay damages rate that does not cover debt service and lost offtake revenue leaves the sponsor carrying the gap. A guaranteed commercial operation date in the PPA that falls before the realistic EPC completion date sets up a default before the project ever runs. Notice provisions with short deadlines get missed, and the claim is gone. Sponsors also sign technology licenses or site leases that prohibit assignment, then discover lenders will not close until the counterparty consents. We build a single matrix of dates, caps, and remedies across all of the project contracts before lender diligence begins, so those gaps surface while there is still room to negotiate them.
