Joel Goldberg has over twenty years of experience both as general counsel to a renewable energy company and in private practice advising clients on energy and infrastructure projects and real estate transactions.

Joel has significant experience representing clients on a broad range of energy projects from early-stage development, construction, and operation, including acquisition and divestiture. Joel’s energy and infrastructure-related experience includes engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, land rights agreements, offtake agreements, RIN, LCFS and other environmental credit transactions, fuel supply agreements, operations and maintenance contracts, energy-related joint ventures, sales and acquisitions, and project financing of power plants (conventional and renewable), renewable natural gas projects, gas-to-liquids and LNG facilities. In the renewable sector he has advised clients with respect to the development, financing, and acquisition and divestiture of wind, solar, battery storage (stand-alone and combined solar/storage), geothermal and biomass facilities. His power project work includes conventional, renewable and waste-derived fuel projects. Within the renewables sector, he also has significant experience advising clients on renewable natural gas projects, and is recognized as a leading authority in all aspects of the development, financing, operation, sale and acquisition of these facilities.

Joel also has significant experience in complex real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, commercial leases, real-estate based financings, joint ventures, and development work. He has represented a wide range of clients, including, developers, lenders, REITs, big-box tenants, real estate funds, private equity firms and institutional investors in the real estate sector.

He currently serves as the Practice Group Leader of the Property and Finance Practice Group at Porter Hedges and also as Co-Chair of the Energy & Environmental Practice Group for TerraLex, a global network of more than 150 law firms and 19,000 lawyers.

Credentials

Education

J.D., University of San Francisco, cum laude, 1994

B.B.A., University of Texas, with honors, 1990

Admissions

Texas

California

Experience

Joel Goldberg’s representations include the following:

Energy & Infrastructure

  • Public company in a global joint venture for coal gasification to power plants.
  • Represent U.S. subsidiary of European battery energy storage manufacturer in a proposed acquisition of two battery energy storage development projects in Texas.
  • Represent developer of storage and solar energy projects with respect to several distributed generation projects at commercial sites in Texas.
  • Owner of existing landfill gas to renewable natural gas project in the add-on installation of carbon capture equipment at the facility and the sale of captured CO2 to an industrial offtaker.
  • Private equity fund in comprehensive due diligence for acquiring companies owning two large landfill-gas-to-energy projects and in negotiating EPC contracts for major expansion of both projects.
  • Acquirer of four natural gas fired electric power plants in Texas in the redevelopment of the plants.
  • Developer of biomass to renewable natural gas facility incorporating carbon capture and sequestration ancillary facility.
  • Represent Spanish infrastructure company in its proposed acquisition of two solar projects in Texas.
  • Developer in negotiating project documents and bond financing for a 45 MW biomass power generation facility in East Texas.
  • Landfill gas-to-electricity developer in all aspects of developing, constructing, and operating over 100 MW of generation facilities, including negotiating and drafting power purchase agreements, development agreements, EPC contracts, interconnection agreements, and O&M agreements.
  • Purchaser of a 150 MW portfolio of power projects located across the United States.
  • Australian listed fund in its stock purchase of companies owning six landfill gas-fueled plants in the Houston area.
  • Purchaser of a company owning an 80 MW combined-cycle power plant in Texas.
  • Lender in the sale of 30 MW landfill gas and natural gas fueled plant in Illinois.
  • Purchaser of company owning a 75 MW natural gas fired generation facility in New York.
  • Renewable electricity provider regarding project financing for a portfolio of five electric generation facilities.

Real Estate

  • Publicly-traded energy company in leasing of 218,000 square feet of office space in The Woodlands to serve as the main office for its Eagle Ford shale development program.
  • Major real estate development company in refinancing its shopping mall and office property credit facilities.
  • Large REIT in leasing office/retail space for four large Houston-area office complexes.
  • Various Houston-based developers in acquiring, developing, and leasing more than 1,000,000 square feet of retail and office space.
  • Houston-based developer in acquiring a 46,000 square foot industrial building.
  • Large national industrial company in leasing 100,000 square feet of industrial/office space in Houston.

Newsroom

Media Mentions

Affiliations

TerraLex Energy Practice Group, Co-Chair

Evelyn’s Park Conservancy, Board of Directors, President