Michele Rizzo Law Firm offers legal assistance and advice to Italian and international companies active in the energy, environmental and energy efficiency sector.

In particular, the Firm assists companies – and also private individuals – in the construction and management of plants for the production of energy from renewable sources, by providing legal support in the procedures for the authorization of plants, the drafting of contracts prior to erecting plants (building rights and servitude), the drafting of contracts for the construction and management of plants (engineering procurement construction contracts and operation and maintenance contracts) and for the sale of energy (power purchase agreement).

The Firm can also provide legal consultancy in relation to contracts and administrative acts in the upstream and downstream stages of the oil and gas industry, such as the obtaining, transferring and renewal of exploration licences and production concessions, and also, and above all, issues relating to natural gas distribution concessions.

In the latter area, in fact, the  professionals of the Firm have significant experience in the granting and execution of concessions for the construction and management of gas distribution networks (including the relations between the concessionaire and its subcontractors), but also in the context of  corporate transactions of significant economic value carried out by leading operators in the sector, including listed companies.

The above allows the Firm nowadays to carry out an accurate analysis of the regulatory and contractual profiles, especially in the context of legal due diligence functional to merger & acquisition operations in the energy sector, identifying the risks inherent in the operation and assistance in the design and execution of the related mitigation strategies within the contractual instruments.

Furthermore, the specific expertise gained in the professional and academic field by the professionals of the Firm with respect to the legal profiles related to energy efficiency, allows Michele Rizzo Law Firm to provide high level legal assistance in energy efficiency projects in the private and public sector. The Firm is, in fact, a legal advisor of public sector bodies and publicly owned companies, energy service companies (ESCO) and companies operating in the energy sector for matters relating to administrative procedures and contracts for the energy requalification of buildings, lighting networks and other assets of Public Administrations.

In particular, the Firm supports public sector bodies and private operators in relation to the award of works and services in the energy field and, more generally, in the design and implementation of measures regarding the energy efficiency of plants and public buildings in compliance with the provisions of the Legislative Decree no. 50/2016, also in the framework of public-private partnership initiatives.

For example, public sector bodies are supported in the engineering of the tender procedure for the awarding of energy service contracts and EPC (energy performance contract), in the identification of public and private financing, and in the drafting of tender documentation, while ESCOs and other companies in the energy sector are assisted – in addition to the participation in tenders and in the performance of the related contracts – also in the design and development of proposals for the implementation of efficiency measures in the public sector according to the project financing and third-party financing scheme.

Local authorities are supported not only in operations aimed at the construction of district heating networks and high-efficiency cogeneration plants, but also in adapting municipal building regulations and their organisational structure to the provisions of the regulations on energy efficiency and the production of energy from renewable sources.

In the private sector, on the other hand, the Firm also supports private individuals, owners of property in a building and companies in the negotiation, preparation and review of contracts for the efficiency improvement of immovable property and production facilities (contract, EPC, etc), including those that provide for the assignment of the related tax credit, and in the performance stage of the same.

On the other hand, with regard to energy efficiency in the transport sector at a local level, the Firm offers legal consultancy in relation to the installation of electric vehicles charging columns and in the experimentation of forms of sustainable micro-mobility.

Private individuals, ESCOs and other sectoral operators are also supported in obtaining energy efficiency certificates (“white certificates”), and, more generally, the contributions and tax benefits provided for these types of intervention: the Firm can in fact take care of the extrajudicial and judicial management of relations with authorities and bodies of the sector (Regulatory Authority for Energy Networks and the Environment – ARERA, Energy Services Manager – GSE, Ministry of Economic Development) in the context of regulatory procedures, authorizations, obtaining incentives or control.

Finally, in the environmental sector, the Firm assists public sector bodies, public holding or mixed activity holding companies and private operators in relation to the assignment and management of the integrated water services and the waste service. In particular, the professionals of the Firm have gained significant experience in the procedures for the awarding of such services according to the so-called in-house providing model; the managers of the service, on the other hand, have been assisted in the management of the procedures for the awarding of contracts for the supply of goods, services and works in compliance with the Legislative Decree no. 50/2016.

In the environmental field, the Firm provides also legal advice to public sector bodies and companies on matters regarding sustainable public procurement and green public procurement, such as the design of tenders compatible with the minimum sectoral environmental criteria and driven in general by the principle of environmental sustainability.

Finally, the Firm is also responsible for providing legal support in proceedings pursuant to the Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 (Consolidated Environmental Decree), such as environmental clean-ups, environmental impact assessments, environmental authorizations.

 

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