Education
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George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1981
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University of Michigan, B.A., 1978
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
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U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 9th and 10th Circuits
Awards and Honors
- SAI Global’s Ethics and Legal Content Advisory Board
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Amy Koch is a senior partner responsible for strategic initiatives in the energy industry. She has advised clients on the effect of federal and state energy regulation on utility industry transactions and on the development, management, and operation of utility assets for over 25 years. Over the course of her career, Ms. Koch has advised investors and lenders on the acquisition and utility regulation of solar, wind, geothermal, conventional hydroelectric, pumped storage, hydrokinetic, and natural gas-fired generating facilities. She has also advised developers of biomass, conventional hydro, pumped storage, and hydrokinetic facilities on FERC regulation and the development of power purchase, interconnection, and transmission agreements.
Since joining Patton Boggs in September 2003, she has advised international investors and lenders on federal and state energy regulatory and transactional matters involving the successful acquisition, debt restructuring and financing of electric generating assets totaling over $14 billion in value. This work has included the development of ownership structures that allow for the trading of equity interests in electric generating facilities without the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) prior to FERC’s recent development of blanket authorizations under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act.
Ms. Koch also advises renewable resource developers, power marketers, and industrial companies on the development of interconnection facilities, wholesale and retail power agreements, transmission agreements, State retail competition opportunities, participation in RTO/ISO markets, and electric market design issues. In addition, she represents utility asset owners and operators and their parent companies on compliance matters involving FERC’s hydroelectric and public utility regulations.
Ms. Koch has also advised foreign governments and foreign electric utilities on privatization and restructuring options for generating plants and on electricity restructuring issues, including the creation of legally enforceable market rules, and the design of electricity regulatory regimes.
Representative Matters:
- Represented the administrative agent to a group of lenders on the structuring of an ownership company arrangement to minimize the risk of FERC regulation of the lenders in a sale in lieu of foreclosure involving 3,000 MWs of generation from the lenders’ initial indirect acquisition of those assets through the subsequent recapitalization of the downstream project companies in late 2005. Represented the downstream project companies on ISO New England (ISO-NE) market design issues, the settlement of an interconnection charge dispute with its local utility before FERC and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and compliance with FERC policies with respect to market-based rate authorization requirements.
- Represented asset purchasers on the federal and state energy regulatory constraints to the joint ownership of “inside-the-fence” interconnection facilities in five transactions involving the monetization of industrial generating assets.
- Advised the developer of a new interconnection facility and transmission line in New England on FERC and ISO-NE compliance matters, including recent FERC Order No. 890 policies regarding reservation rights and transmission expansion requirements placed on a transmission owner.
- Advised a landfill-gas project developer on power purchase agreement bids, interconnection queue issues and FERC regulation of proposed projects to be located in California and New Jersey.
- Represented the administrative agent to a group of lenders on the structuring of a holding company arrangement to minimize the risk of federal energy regulation of the lenders in a sale in lieu of foreclosure of 545 MWs of generation and obtained FERC approval of the structure.
- Advised several power marketers on FERC regulatory compliance matters, participation in RTO/ISOs, negotiation of wholesale and retail power sales arrangements (both EEI and non-EEI contract models) and retail and wholesale transmission agreements.
- Advised several industrial companies with self-generation on electricity restructuring issues, new power sales and purchase opportunities, and potential new corporate structures to minimize regulation by FERC and state public utility commissions.
- Served on a team of advisors to RAO-UES, the largest utility in Russia, on electricity restructuring issues, including the development of a market design, the creation of legally enforceable market rules, and an electricity regulatory regime.
- Advised the Republic of Georgia’s state-owned electric utility on the introduction of private management for the Varzikhe Hydroelectric Cascade as part of the long-term privatization and rehabilitation of the four facilities.
Professional Affiliations:
Energy Bar Association
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