Joel Meister represents financial institutions and developers involved in a variety of complex project financings. As a senior counsel who works within our Finance Practice and Energy Sector, his experience includes partnership flips, sale leasebacks, asset acquisitions and sales, and debt financings, primarily for solar and other renewable energy technologies. He has assisted clients on projects comprising several gigawatts of electric generating capacity in aggregate.
Since 2013, Joel has developed an extensive practice advising clients on the development, acquisition, and financing of battery energy storage projects, on a standalone basis and paired with energy generation like solar – from distributed residential and C&I applications to some of the largest energy storage projects in the world. His practice spans the structuring of key energy storage project agreements (battery supply and equipment procurement contracts; SCADA and other BESS subcontractor agreements; EPC, BOP, and other construction contracts; battery O&M, and long-term service contracts; solar+storage PPAs, tolling agreements, and energy storage service agreements, etc.), due diligence, M&A, and tax equity financing.
Actively working on clean energy issues since 2008, Joel was a manager focusing on renewable energy issues in Deloitte Tax’s Washington National Tax (WNT) office before joining Foley. Joel previously served as assistant general counsel at an energy storage start-up before it was acquired. His duties included all legal and regulatory matters, with an emphasis on project financing structures and energy storage assets’ participation in grid services markets. Joel began his work in the solar industry in 2009 concentrating on tax and financing issues at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the national trade association for the U.S. solar industry.
Joel currently serves as the co-host and showrunner of Foley’s energy podcast, Powered by Foley, covering industry developments and Foley’s practice insights. As the energy sector continues to evolve, Joel’s industry analysis and research into the complexities of renewable energy financing has been cited by leading industry publications, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), academia, and in congressional testimony.
