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Lana Le Hir

Partner

橘郡

Lana has spent her career at the forefront of innovative carbon-free energy transactions, crafting and negotiating more than 20 GW of power offtakes and helping pioneer first-of-a-kind solutions for novel technologies that have shaped the energy and carbon removal markets.

Lana advises corporate purchasers and developers on complex power purchase and carbon removal offtake agreements, drawing on her experience across the sell and buy sides of the market and her electrical engineering background. She is a trusted advisor to the world’s largest corporate purchasers and developers.

Lana has played a key role in several first-of-a-kind transactions, including the first corporate virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), the first 24/7 carbon-free power delivery structures for data centers, the first nuclear fusion power purchase agreement (PPA), the first standalone storage offtake structures, the largest renewable PPA globally, the first and largest long-term carbon removal offtake agreements, and is currently at the forefront of the latest wind, solar, battery storage, and/or gas behind the meter powered land transactions to power AI data centers.

Before joining Orrick, Lana was a Senior Associate at K&L Gates in their energy and infrastructure group. Prior to that, she spent eight years as Senior Counsel at Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, where she managed the company’s U.S. PPA portfolio (7.5 GW). An electrical engineer by training, she earlier led a product engineering team developing cutting edge wireless technologies – experience that continues to shape how she evaluates new energy solutions and evolving project structures.

  • Renewable Energy Procurement / PPAs

    • Advised Iberdrola Renewables on Amazon’s first virtual power purchase agreement ever.
    • Represented Microsoft in negotiating and managing a 40+ GW portfolio of power purchase agreements (PPAs), including virtual, physical, block delivery, 24/7, load-following, and aggregation structures across the United States, EU, APAC, and LATAM. Notable transactions include:
      • The largest single corporate PPA to date, with Brookfield Renewables, enabling the delivery of 10.5 GW+ of renewable power capacity across the U.S. and Europe.
      • The first 24/7 hourly matching carbon-free energy PPA, with Powerex, supporting Microsoft’s Washington state data center operations.
      • The first nuclear fusion PPA, with Helion Energy, for power from Helion’s first commercial fusion plant.
    • Advised Gridstor, a Goldman Sachs Asset Management-backed energy developer and operator, on a novel energy storage agreement for a 220 MW / 440 MWh battery storage project in Texas – among the first financeable structures of its kind for the sector.
    • Represented a global food and beverage company in the negotiation and management of its U.S. and Canadian portfolio of virtual PPAs and direct green tariff arrangements.
    • Advises a global coffee company in the negotiation and management of its U.S. renewables portfolio.
    • Supported a global e-commerce company in expanding its U.S. onsite solar PPA portfolio for fulfillment center operations.
    • Represents major U.S. renewable energy developers in negotiating physical and virtual PPAs with corporate offtakers and major utilities across all US ISOs, RTOs, and WECC.

    Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Agreements

    • Advised Microsoft in structuring and negotiating long-term and short-term carbon removal purchase agreements across nature-based and emerging engineered solutions globally, including:
      • An offtake with Climeworks for a period of 10 years from a direct air capture project located in Iceland, which was the first long term carbon removal offtake agreement in the world.
      • An agreement with Climate Impact Partners for 1.5 million tons of verified carbon removal credits from the Panna afforestation project, representing Microsoft’s first long-term offtake in India and one of the largest afforestation-based carbon removal transactions in Asia-Pacific.
      • An offtake with 1PointFive for the purchase of 500,000 tons of carbon removal credits over six years, among the largest direct air capture-enabled offtake agreements to date.
      • Two transactions with Re.green to restore a combined 33,000 hectares across the Amazon and Atlantic Forests in Brazil, with a commitment for a combined 6.5 million tons of carbon removal credits.
      • A 30-year agreement with Ponterra for 1.6 million tons of carbon removal credits, supporting the planting of more than six million trees on Panama’s Azuero Peninsula.
      • An offtake with Heirloom for the removal of up to 315,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over 10 years – one of the first bankable carbon dioxide removal agreements.
    • Represented Living Carbon in negotiating long-term carbon removal offtake agreements with Meta, Google and McKinsey & Company as part of the Symbiosis Coalition.

    Distributed Energy, Community Solar, and Energy Transition Structures

    • Advised Microsoft on integrating community benefit frameworks into its onsite solar strategy, including:
      • Agreement with Powertrust to develop 270 MW of distributed solar projects across Mexico and Brazil.
      • Agreement with Sunwealth to develop 100 MW of community-based distributed solar projects over a four-year term.
    • Supported a global e-commerce company in expanding its U.S. portfolio of onsite solar PPAs for fulfillment centers.