Foley Hoag announced today that Sebastián "Seb" Villaveces, a seasoned energy transactional attorney and former Chief Legal Officer at one of the nation's leading battery storage companies, has joined the firm as a partner in the Energy & Climate Group in New York.
Villaveces joins from Convergent Energy and Power, an independent battery storage owner-operator, where he served as Chief Legal and People Officer and, previously, as Chief Development Officer, building an energy storage project pipeline of over 1GWh.
Villaveces brings deep, hands-on experience across the full project lifecycle in energy storage, renewable energy, and infrastructure, including development, land acquisition, offtake, procurement, construction, M&A, project finance and tax equity. He has advised on infrastructure projects and transactions in 15 jurisdictions throughout the Americas.
"I have had the privilege of working closely with Seb while he was in-house. He is a battle-tested operator who knows how projects get built and how they run once they're operational. He is relentless about structuring deals that hold up in front of an investment committee and stand up to lender diligence, as I've seen firsthand," said Noah Shaw, partner in Foley Hoag's Energy & Climate Group.
At Foley Hoag, Villaveces will utilize his years of owner-side experience to advise developers, owner-operators and investors on storage and renewable energy transactions, proactively identifying and working to solve emerging problems in the marketplace.
"Foley Hoag has a distinctive reputation at the intersection of energy, climate and infrastructure," said Villaveces. "There is no shortage of capital for energy infrastructure right now. The challenge is to structure projects that capital will underwrite, and that's where I live. It's why I'm here, and why this is the mission-driven team I wanted to join."
Villaveces began his career in private practice before moving in-house, giving him a rare dual perspective that spans both sides of energy transactions. Prior to joining Convergent, Villaveces held roles both in-house and in private practice. He received his LL.M. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and law degree from Universidad de los Andes in his native Colombia. He works in English and Spanish.
About Foley Hoag's Energy & Climate Group
With over two decades at the forefront of the energy transition, Foley Hoag's Energy & Climate group is a pioneer in a broad range of markets and technologies, including distributed and large-scale solar, onshore and offshore wind, energy storage, clean transportation, electricity transmission, geothermal, and many more. The group provides a full suite of transactional, debt, finance, strategic, regulatory, permitting, litigation, and other counsel regarding matters and deals large and small, at the state, federal, and international levels. Its full-service, committed team works hand-in-hand with energy and climate innovators—from early-stage startups to some of the largest energy companies in the world.