S Deatherage Law

Practice Areas

Energy

Renewable and traditional energy projects, data centers, and related leases, engineering, procurement, and construction or EPC contracts, and interconnection agreements.

In brief: More than $10 billion in energy infrastructure, including 100+ utility-scale solar, wind, and storage projects, 100+ ground leases, permitting for five combined-cycle natural gas plants, and a 1 GW data center taken from inception through sale.

The firm advises on renewable and traditional energy across Texas, California, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and other states, involving solar, wind, energy storage, natural gas, transmission, anaerobic digestion, biomass, waste-to-energy, and powering of data centers.

Project development and transactions

  • Power purchase agreements and offtake agreements
  • Engineering, procurement, and construction or EPC contracts
  • Operations and maintenance agreements
  • Interconnection agreements
  • Procurement agreements for solar panels, storage, transformers, switchgear, and other equipment
  • Sales of individual projects and portfolios
  • Local tax abatements and economic development incentives
  • Purchases and sales of renewable energy credits and carbon credits

Data centers

The firm represents data center developers and landowners across the ERCOT region and beyond — both traditional data center companies and bitcoin mining operations — on power, interconnection, real property, and the contracts that connect them.

  • Interconnection agreements, including for 1 GW of load
  • ERCOT large load requirements, including Senate Bill 6 and the PUCT rulemaking implementing it
  • Negotiations with electric utilities, cooperatives, and generators
  • Ground leases, options, and real property purchase and sale agreements
  • Access and operating agreements
  • Entity formation, LLC operating agreements, and corporate reorganization
  • State restrictions on foreign ownership of land, grid equipment, and electricity market participation
  • Disputes with partners, contractors, and customers

Bitcoin mining

Mining operations face the same power and land questions as a traditional data center, with a different tolerance for interruption and a different offtake profile. The firm's work in this area includes:

  • Power purchase agreements for miners, including behind-the-meter arrangements buying directly from a wind or solar farm
  • Traditional power purchase agreements with retail electric providers
  • Mining hosting contracts
  • Profit-sharing agreements between miner owners and hosting companies
  • Combined solar generation and mining projects
  • Negotiations with electric utilities and cooperatives on load and curtailment terms

See Texas Senate Bill 6 and data centers and ERCOT's large load batch study process.

Developers and landowners

Scott has structured and negotiated more than 100 wind, solar, and energy storage ground leases for developers and for the families and businesses who own the land. Representing both sides informs the advice given to the other side.

Common questions from landowners are answered at Landowner FAQ, and the provisions themselves in Solar Leases: Negotiating Key Provisions.

Representative matters

  • Represented the developer of a 1 GW data center project from inception through its completed sale in 2025 — land lease with option to purchase, pre-negotiated purchase and sale agreement, interconnection agreement for 1 GW, and an asset purchase restructured into an LLC membership interest purchase
  • Advised the lender on one of the first solar projects in Texas, the 30 MW Webberville Solar Project near Austin, supplying Austin Energy — at the time the largest solar project in Texas
  • Advised clients on more than 100 utility-scale solar, wind, and energy storage projects
  • Sale of interests in more than 5,000 MW of solar projects in development, including portfolios of 40 to 50 projects sold by developers to publicly traded energy companies
  • Permitting for five combined-cycle natural gas power plants, including EPA greenhouse gas permits
  • Federal litigation concerning a transmission line upgrade under the Endangered Species Act and NEPA
  • Anaerobic digestion, biomass, and waste-to-energy project work

Questions clients ask

Do you represent developers or landowners?

Both. Scott has negotiated more than 100 ground leases from each side, which means he can usually tell a client early which of their positions will hold and which will not.

How early should counsel be involved in a data center project?

Site control terms, power assumptions, and potential local government and community opposition reviewed in the initial planning of data centers can affect, delay, or lead to the termination of a project. Evaluation of interconnection regulations and processes, and the related costs, is a central planning aspect of data center projects in terms of cost and potential delays.

What does Senate Bill 6 mean for a large load?

Disclosure of duplicate interconnection requests and of backup generation, financial commitments attaching to queue positions, and curtailment capability for loads interconnected after December 2025. The implementing rule is still being developed through ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas.