Overview

This seminar focuses on the fundamentals, legal and regulatory frameworks, current important issues and trends in understanding and negotiating transmission service agreements. The seminar will include financial and project-related themes in the context of transmission services. The objective of the seminar is to assist transmission service agreement role players, including policy makers and practitioners from emerging economies, to develop skills and to better understand the contractual terms and conditions through analysis and applications.

Format

The seminars are currently offered both in-person and online simultaneously, at the choice of the participant. This choice must be indicated at the time of registration. A small number of courses are scheduled to be delivered exclusively in person or online, and are indicated as such in the 2023 schedule. In-Person Only seminars usually start at 9:30 am Washington D.C. time. Daily sessions usually end at 4:00 pm. Breaks (including the lunch break) are allocated as appropriate. Online Only seminars will be delivered through five (for 1-week course) or ten (for 2-weeks course) live online sessions via videoconferencing platform. Each session will last approximately 3.5 hours and will be scheduled to start within a time window of 7:00 am – 8:30 am Washington D.C. time. Hybrid In-Person/Online seminars will start at a time most convenient to both in-person and online participants, and will generally follow the In-Person seminar format. We expect the classes to be highly interactive and can include presentations, case studies and exercises.

Course Outline

Fundamentals of Transmission Service Agreements

• Overview of established arrangement of provisions
• Actors and Role players
• Policy Considerations

Legal and Regulatory Frameworks

• The Regulator, including Tariff Setting
• Compliance, and Discussion of Selected Laws and Regulations

Contractual Considerations, including

• Important Concepts/ Definitions
  • Transmission Service Types (e.g. “point-to-point transmission service,” “open access”)
  • Transmission Charges and Affiliates
  • Curtailment Conditions
  • Operating Period
  • Insolvency Events and Occurrences
• General Terms of Service
  • Standards and requirements for operation and maintenance
  • Billing and payments
• Terms and Continuing Obligations
  • Environmental Compliance and Procedures
  • Remediation and Abatement
  • Force Majeure
  • Tax Responsibilities
• Amendments
  • Declare notice of filing and response
  • Limitations in Modifications of Agreement
  • Governing law and dispute resolution
• Termination Procedures
• Miscellaneous
  • Scheduling and Metering

Project-Related Topics

• Procurement Issues
• Utilization of Public-Private Partnerships
• Project Finance Considerations for Transmission Services
• Other Financial Considerations

Trends in Power Services and Other Current Topics

• Grid Modernization
• Renewables, integration, and energy storage
• Growing load defections for Utilities
• Design reforms and Distributed Energy Resources (DER)
• Environmental Concerns
• Refocused customer service, including the role of third party vendors
• Changing Utility business models

Negotiations

• Negotiating techniques
• Negotiating with donor organizations, financiers and sponsors
• Approaching/Drafting Contractual Terms, Conditions and Amendments

Course Advisor

Don De Amicis is a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches international business transactions, and a Senior Advisor at the International Law Institute. He was previously Vice President and General Counsel of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. government’s development finance institution, which supports private investment through project finance and political risk insurance. Don was a partner at the international law firm Ropes & Gray, where he focused on finance, corporate law, and restructuring. He is a member of the Sanctions Committee of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Enforcement Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and also serves as an independent arbitrator.