PROFILE

Natasha Gianvecchio is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office, where she serves as Local Chair of the Finance Department, and a member of the Energy Regulatory & Markets Practice and the Project Development & Finance Practice.

Natasha focuses on the regulatory and energy market developments that impact a variety of clients in the electric and natural gas industries in the United States, including independent power producers and sponsors, power marketers, electric utilities, natural gas companies, and financial institutions.

She has extensive experience with the development of, implementation of, and compliance with the competitive wholesale energy market rules in the regional energy markets in New England (ISO-NE), New York (NYISO), the Mid-Atlantic (PJM), the Midwest (MISO), California (CAISO), Texas (ERCOT), and the Southwest (SPP).

Natasha regularly handles the drafting, negotiation, and review of physical and financial power purchase, offtake and trading arrangements, including virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), through bespoke or structured agreements as well as standard electric, gas, and financial master agreements, including ISDA, EEI, WSPP, and NAESB. Her work involves power projects and trading across the United States with a wide variety of counterparties, including financial institutions, strategic trading platforms, traditional utilities, governmental entities, cooperatives, and corporate and industrial (C&I) buyers.

Natasha’s experience also encompasses a broad range of issues under the Federal Power Act (FPA), Energy Policy Act, Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), and various other federal and state energy statutes, and regulations.

Natasha regularly advises investors and lenders on the regulatory and market risks, approvals, and related issues associated with the acquisition and financing of equity and debt interests in energy assets.

She represents clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the regional market operators in matters related to the following:

• Development of, implementation of, and compliance with FERC rules and regulations, including with respect to:
  • FPA Section 203 approvals for mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations of energy companies and assets
  • FPA Section 205 rates and compliance, including market-based rate authority
  • PUHCA, including qualifying facility (QF) and exempt wholesale generator (EWG) issues
  • Electric interconnection issues
  • Competitive wholesale power markets
• Enforcement inquiries, investigations and self-reports, particularly as relate to the regional energy market rules
• Administrative litigation and settlements across a variety of power-related matters

Natasha is a member of the Energy Bar Association and serves on the firm’s Finance Committee.

Thought Leadership

• Co-author, “FERC Compliance and Enforcement Developments Affecting the Energy Industry,” Regulation of the Gas Industry, LexisNexis, 2018-2022
• Co-author, chapter on USA Energy Markets and Regulation, “The Energy and Markets Review,” Law Business Research Ltd. (Annual Publication), 2012-2022
• Co-author, “What FERC Can – And Cannot – Do Without A Quorum,” Law360, February 2017
• Co-author, “All RECs Are Local: How In-State Generation Requirements Adversely Affect Development of a Robust REC Market,” The Electricity Journal, Vol. 24, Issue 4, May 2011