Ike Emehelu
Partner
Areas of Focus
- Corporate & Finance
- Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
- Project Development
- Project Acquisition & Disposition
- Climate Change
- Leveraged Finance
- Energy & Infrastructure
- Solar
- Wind
- Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage
- Bioenergy
- Mining
- Tax Structuring & Equity Financing
- Projects & Energy Transition
- Energy Storage
- Energy & Infrastructure Private Equity
- Private Credit
- Private Capital
- Advises on energy and infrastructure project finance transactions.
- Focuses on renewable energy projects and other investments supporting the energy transition.
- Co-head of the firm’s projects & energy transition practice.
Ike focuses his practice on energy and infrastructure project finance transactions.
He represents lenders, developers, private equity and infrastructure funds, credit and sovereign investors and other capital providers in the development, financing, acquisition and disposition of renewable energy projects—including wind, solar, battery storage, carbon capture and biomass—as well as traditional power generation, gas and non-generation infrastructure projects. He has structured transactions throughout the United States, Africa and Latin America.
Solar
- Represented lenders in the acquisition financing of a portfolio of solar projects owned by Alchemy Renewables.
- Represented lenders in establishing letters of credit term facilities for SB Energy’s five milestone projects that provide over 1GWp in Texas from Juno, Titan and Aragorn, with an additional 650 MWp in California from Athos I and Athos II.
- Represent Savion in borrowing base development facility for its portfolio of solar projects.
- Represented investors in the private placement financing of Duke Energy’s “High Noon” portfolio of solar projects.
- Represented lenders in the construction and term financing of the 182 MWac Midway Solar project developed by 174 Power Global.
EducationJ.D., Yale Law School, 2002
B.A., University of Bridgeport, summa cum laude, 1999
J.D., Yale Law School, 2002
B.A., University of Bridgeport, summa cum laude, 1999
Bar AdmissionsConnecticut
New York
Connecticut
New York
- Chambers Global, Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, 2024.
- Diversity Journal, Black Leadership Award, 2023.
- Chambers USA, Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, 2021-2024.
- The Legal 500 US, Project Finance, 2019, 2021 and 2024.
- The Legal 500 US, Energy: Renewable/Alternative Power and Energy Transactions: Electric Power, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
- Acritas, Acritas Star, 2020-2021.
- Member, Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association, 2009–2011.
- Yale Journal of International Law.
- Panelist, “The U.S. Clean Energy Gold Rush: Regulatory Rollouts, Emerging Trends and the Response Abroad,” ACIC Fall Annual Meeting and Education Conference, October 19, 2023.
- Panelist, “Reconsidering the Cost and Benefits of Political Risk Insurance for FDI: a catalyst for energy investments,” Powering Africa Summit, March 17, 2022.
- Moderator, “Today’s Power Markets and Power Prices,” Projects & Money 2022, January 26, 2022.
- Moderator, “Merchant power generators make the move to renewables,” S&P Global, Financing US Power Conference, October 28, 2020.
- Moderator, “Deal or No Deal - Key Trends that Will Make or Break Renewable Energy M&A,” IPFA Americas: New York: If You Build It, Will They Come? A Look at Financing Renewable M&A Transactions in the US, March 12, 2019.
- Panelist, “From Zero to Sixty: What It Takes to Launch an Investment Fund,” Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, Cambridge, March 2016.
- Moderator, “Structuring Hybrid Deal Financings to Attract Institutional and Long-Term Investors,” Infocast’s Energy Project Finance Tutorial, New York, December 2015.
- Moderator, “Is China’s Footprint in Africa Declining? Emerging Alternative Finance Sources,” PAN Africa Network, New York, September 2015.
- Moderator, “Akon Lighting Africa,” Africa 2030: Enterprise-Led Future, New York, September 2015.
- Panelist, “Power Africa Opportunities,” Power Africa B2B Summit organized by the U.S. Commerce Department, April 2014.
- Panelist, “The Role of the Private Sector in Filling Africa’s Infrastructure Gap,” Harvard Africa Development Conference, Cambridge, March 2014.
- Moderator, “The Re-Emergence of Mezzanine Financing,” Power Generation Asset Financing Summit, New York, May 2012.
- Moderator, “Market Liquidity, Credit, The Capital Markets and Deal Financing,” Power Generation Asset Financing Summit, New York, May 2012.