Biografía

George Humphrey, who is co-chair of Holland & Knight’s Energy Transition Group, is a business attorney in the firm's Houston office. He focuses his practice on U.S. and international project development and finance, strategic joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Humphrey has overseen the development, financing and closing of billions of dollars of energy projects in the U.S. and internationally, including conventional power, wind power, solar power, energy storage, green hydrogen, biofuels, methanol, fertilizer and petrochemical plants, and carbon capture.

Mr. Humphrey's practice encompasses:

  • Project development, including the drafting and negotiation of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, balance of plant agreements; turbine supply agreements; build-out agreements; energy hedge agreements; coordination agreements; operation and maintenance (O&M) agreements; shared facilities agreements; product sales agreements; feedstock agreements; tolling agreements; secondment agreements; requests for proposals; and purchase and sale agreements
  • Project finance, including the drafting and negotiation of loan agreements and documentation such as guarantees and letters of credit, as well as security, equity contribution, intercreditor, pledge, depository, control and subordination agreements; consents and agreements; opinions; lien waivers; and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings
  • Advising on, structuring and documenting multiphase, merchant and other energy projects, as well as identifying and minimizing regulatory, transmission and other risks associated with such energy projects
  • Helping developers negotiate with their development partners, lenders, investors, tax equity investors, offtakers, energy hedge providers and contractors, as well as drafting structures to help his clients maximize value from their projects
  • Corporate finance transactions, including advising large banks and corporations (both as borrowers and lenders) on multimillion-dollar credit facilities ranging from syndicated, multicurrency and multijurisdictional loans to single-lender seller financing, preparing and negotiating the loan documents, and securing collateral often located across the U.S. and the world
  • Intercreditor transactions, including advising clients on complex intercreditor issues such as multiple lien priorities, claimholder voting, standstill periods, cure rights, enforcement actions, payment waterfalls, collateral dispositions, casualty events, rights to amend documents, purchase options and other difficult intercreditor issues
  • General corporate practice, including mergers, acquisitions and divestitures (g., advising clients on the strategic acquisition of other companies and project rights and on the buyout of a development partner's interest)
  • Representation of Fortune 500 companies doing business in Latin America (e.g., Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela), including the identifying and minimizing of emerging market risks, structuring and documenting of joint ventures and strategic acquisitions, and the selection, coordination and management of foreign counsel

Experiencia Representativa

  • Advising the developer of a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant in Mexico, including negotiating the U.S-Mexico cross-border sale by the developer’s U.S. affiliate of natural gas to Mexico's Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) and purchase by the plant from CFE of a similar quantity of natural gas in Mexico
  • Advised the sponsor on the development of a $2.5 billion methanol facility in Louisiana, including negotiation of the EPC contract for the facility
  • Advised the sponsor on a $110 million project financing of an offshore natural gas drilling and production platform, pipeline and gas processing facility in Trinidad and Tobago
  • Advised the sponsor on the development and financing of a 1.8 million metric ton-per-annum methanol production facility in Beaumont, Texas, including the natural gas supply and $900 million financing of the facility
  • Advised the sponsor on an $80 million multilateral project financing of a water treatment facility in Ecuador
  • Advised subsidiaries of Proman AG on the development of a $1.3 billion ammonia facility in Mexico, including structuring arrangements to bring low-cost natural gas from the U.S. to the facility in Mexico
  • Advised a Chinese state-owned enterprise on the potential acquisition of a chemical business from a Fortune 100 chemical company
  • Advised a foreign energy company on the potential acquisition of energy assets in the U.S. with a value of more than $2 billion

  • Advising the developer of multiple, utility-scale green hydrogen production facilities across the U. S. and Canada, including the negotiation of nearly 1 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy purchase agreements and the long-term sale of green hydrogen
  • Advising EnerSmart Storage on the development, construction and financing of nine utility-scale battery storage facilities in San Diego, including the closing of a first-of-its-kind $78.2 million merchant project financing of the facilities with the North American Development Bank and Siemens Financial Services
  • Advising the developer of a waste-gas-to-bio-methanol plant in Texas
  • Advising energy companies on the development of carbon capture and sequestration projects within the U.S.
  • Advised developers on the development, purchase and sale of wind and solar projects within the U.S., including the negotiation of the power purchase agreement
  • Advised OnPeak Power in the sale of four U.S. solar projects totaling 1.1 GW to a new joint venture formed between two Israeli companies, including the negotiation of a long-term development relationship between OnPeak and the joint venture
  • Advised an energy company in an investment into a $600 million municipal waste-to-bio-methanol plant in Canada, including the bio-methanol offtake agreement
  • Advised the lead investor of a $50 million Series B round into a thermal energy storage company, including the design and engineering agreement to commercialize the technology
  • Advised a technology company on the development of its first commercial-scale facility that captured CO2 flue gas from a cement factory, then used a chlor-alkali facility and electrolyzers to turn the captured CO2 into saleable products, such as baking soda and sulfuric acid, including the turnkey EPC contract for the facility
  • Negotiation of an EPC contract for the construction of utility-scale carbon capture and use
  • Advised a renewable company on the development of a 150-megawatt (MW) solar project in Mexico, including the negotiation of a power purchase agreement and agreements related to the dispatch of energy into the Mexican electric system
  • Advised the sponsor on an $82 million project financing of six solar projects in Uruguay totaling more than 70 MW, including the negotiation of EPC and O&M contracts
  • Advised a sovereign fund asset manager on a $100 million investment into a renewable energy company management team
  • Advised the developer on the sale of an approximately 2,000-MW wind project development in the panhandle of Oklahoma
  • Advised the developer on the acquisition of a Mexican wind power development company, including advice on the Mexican power purchase agreements used by the company
  • Advised an energy company on the acquisition of an interest in a 100-plus-MW wind project in Japan, including negotiation of the joint venture agreement
  • Advised a large international energy company on the auction sale of its South American renewable generation and O&M business

Credenciales

Educación
  • University of Florida Levin College of Law, J.D.
  • University of Florida, B.A., with honors
Admisiones
  • Florida
  • Texas
Membresías
  • Energy Bar Association
  • State Bar of Texas, International Law Section, Chair, 2016-2017
  • State Bar of Florida
  • Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout
Honores y Reconocimientos
  • The Legal 500 USA, Energy: Renewable/Alternative; Industry Focus: Renewable/Alternative Power, 2019-2023
  • IFLR1000, Banking & Finance, Energy, Project Development and Project Finance, 2019; Notable practitioner, Banking and Finance, Energy, Project development and Project Finance, 2023, 2024
  • The Legal 500, U.S.-Mexico Private Practice Powerlist, 2018-2019
  • The Legal 500 Latin America, Corporate/M&A; Projects & Energy, 2018
  • Expert Guides: Guide to the World's Leading Energy and Natural Resources Lawyers, 2017-2018
  • Who's Who Legal, Energy, Project Finance, 2017; Leading Individual, Energy - Renewables, 2021, 2022

Publicaciones

Conferencias Dictadas