Jessica N. Adkins

JESSICA ADKINS focuses her practice on the power and renewable energy industry. She advises clients on a wide range of transactions, including the development, acquisition, financing, disposition, and restructuring of energy and infrastructure projects, as well as complex structured commodity and hedging matters. Her experience includes both renewable and conventional generation sources and transactions to support the complex energy needs of data centers. An engineer by training, Jessica’s practice is characterized by legal advice that is rooted in a technical and commercial understanding of the energy markets and her clients’ businesses. Her clients—private equity funds, independent power producers, trading and marketing companies, and financial institutions, among others—have noted her creative and business-minded approach to the resolution of complex legal issues.

“Jessica Adkins is renowned in the industry. She is an industry expert and a great resource.”
Chambers USA 2025

Jessica is recognized by Chambers Global (USA; 2022–2025) and Chambers USA (Nationwide; 2021–2025) for Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy and Projects; and recommended by Legal 500 United States for Energy Transactions: Electric Power (2025), Energy Transactions: Conventional Power (2018–2019), Energy: Renewable/Alternative Power (2017–2019), and Project Finance (2014–2019).

Jessica is a frequent speaker on power and renewable industry topics. She has held numerous leadership positions in various industry organizations and currently serves as a founding board member of the Renewable Energy Alliance – Houston (REAL Houston) and is a member of the Executive Women’s Partnership of the Greater Houston Partnership.

Prior to joining Sidley, Jessica was a partner and chair of the power projects practice group at another law firm.

Jessica speaks Spanish.

Jessica’s experience includes the following representations:

Data Centers

• Developer in development of off-grid generation for large scale data center energy supply.
• Multiple wind and solar projects to supply power to behind-the-meter data centers.
• Sponsor in investments related to development of power land for data center usage.
• Bitcoin miner in power supply for a 1 GW bitcoin mining operation.
• Multiple data centers in procuring retail energy supply.

Solar

• Private equity portfolio companies in the sale of over 6,000 MWs of solar and battery storage projects located across the United States, through both portfolio sales and sales of individual projects.
• OCI Energy in the sale of multiple solar projects, including the sale of the 130 MW Lucky 7 solar project and the 156 MW Pepper solar project to Sabanci Renewables, and the sale of the 260 MW Hillsboro solar project to Hyundai Engineering.
• OCI Energy in a joint venture with Arava Power to develop a 260 MW solar project in Texas.
• Mission Solar Energy with respect to its solar module manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas.
• Cubico Sustainable Investments in the acquisition, debt and tax equity financing of the 102 MW Midlands solar project located in South Carolina.
• Cubico Sustainable Investments in the project financing of the 162 MW Wagyu solar project located in Texas, including in a long term secured solar hedge arrangement with BP and power purchase agreement with Starbucks to enable such financing.
• Private equity portfolio company in the acquisition and development of a 400 MW solar project in Texas.
• Capital Dynamics in the acquisition of multiple portfolios of solar projects.
• Invenergy, NRG Energy, Cubico Sustainable Investments, Recurrent Energy, First Solar, Pattern, SunChase, and numerous other sponsors in a wide range of renewable offtake arrangements with respect to solar generation facilities, including traditional power purchase agreements, virtual power purchase agreements, proxy generation power purchase agreements and hedges, with wide variety of counterparties.
• Multiple sponsors in complex arrangements to supply power to data center centers.

Wind

• Vitol in the project financing of a portfolio of three wind projects located in Pennsylvania with an aggregate generation capacity of 244 MWs. 
• Cubico Sustainable Investments in the acquisition and tax equity financing of the 46.5 MW Wind Wall 1 Project located in California.
• International power developer in the acquisition of a 50% interest in a 200 MW operating wind generation facility located in the Midwest.
• Citigroup Energy in a long-term secured hedges to enable the debt and tax equity financing of multiple wind generation facilities, including the 200 MW Persimmon Creek wind farm located in Oklahoma and the 160 MW Rattlesnake wind farm located in Texas.
• Lenders in the construction financing and letter of credit facility for the 200 MW Canadian Breaks wind farm located in Texas.
• First Reserve Corporation on a long-term hedge to enable the acquisition and financing of the 298 MW Kingfisher Wind Project located in Oklahoma; named “Deal of the Year” at the Energy Risk Awards 2016, “Commodities Deal of Year” at the 2015 Commodity Business Awards, “2015 Financial Deal of the Year” at the Platts Global Energy Awards, and noted by Platts as standing out for the “innovative nature of its contract and financing structure.”
• Pattern Energy and Capital Dynamics in long-term project asset secured hedges to enable the project financing of seven wind farms with an aggregate generation capacity of over 1,300 MW, including Pattern’s 219 MW Panhandle 1, 182 MW Panhandle 2, and 200 MW Logan’s Gap wind projects and Capital Dynamics 150 MW Green Pastures 1, 150 MW Green Pastures 2, and 150 MW Briscoe wind projects.
• Invenergy, Pattern, NRG Energy and numerous other sponsors in a wide range of renewable offtake arrangements with respect to wind generation facilities, including traditional power purchase agreements, virtual power purchase agreements, proxy generation power purchase agreements and hedges, with wide variety of counterparties. Counterparties include corporate purchasers such as Walmart, Unilever and Dow Chemical.

Battery Storage

• Numerous Project owners and offtakers in a wide range of offtake agreements with respect to battery storage projects, including physical tolling agreements, capacity agreements, and financial swaps.
• Invenergy in an arrangement to provide 50 MW of energy storage to Arizona Public Services (APS).
• Multiple Battery Storage Developers in arrangements to monetize energy storage products through hedges and tolling agreements.

Thermal Generation

• Onward Energy in tolling agreements and other offtake and hedging arrangements for its fleet of natural gas generation facilities.
• Conduit Power in a joint venture with Riley Exploration Permian to build new natural gas generation facilities and energy storage assets for the sale of energy and ancillary services to ERCOT.
• Trading and marketing company in a lien based hedge with respect to a 1,100 MW combined cycle power generation facility located in New York.
• NRG in connection with its Petra Nova carbon capture project and sell down of its 50% interest to JX Nippon.
• International power generator in restructuring cross-border gas supply and power offtake arrangements for a 1,100 MW power generation facility located in Mexico.
• Riverstone Energy portfolio companies in secured commodity hedging and energy management arrangements for their respective natural gas and coal-fired power plants located in PJM and ERCOT with an aggregate generation capacity in excess of 5,000 MW.
• Power generator in restructuring of project asset secured physical tolling arrangements on a 1,900 MW portfolio of natural gas-fired power plants by replacing such arrangements with financially settled heat rate call options.
• Power marketer in structuring and negotiating a US$200 million secured trading facility with a complex collateral arrangement using PJM capacity revenues to support the trading relationship.
• Developer in the development of a 1,300 MW natural gas-fired power plant located in New Jersey.
• Energy company in divesting its interest in a jointly owned 600 MW Inter-American Development Bank and Ex-Im Bank financed power plant located in Mexico.
• Private fund with US$1 billion joint venture with a natural gas service provider to expand a natural gas pipeline.

Electric Vehicles

• Pilot Company in a collaboration with General Motors to build out of a nationwide network of 2,000 electric vehicle chargers.
• NRG Energy through start-up and ongoing development, operation and expansion of its nationwide EVgo electric vehicle charging services business, as well as the sell down of a majority stake in such business to Vision Ridge Partners.

Retail

• Calpine Energy Solutions (f/k/a Noble Americas Energy Solutions) in multiple secured arrangements to act as the sole supplier of wholesale power to various retail electric companies in multiple ISOs located across the U.S.
• Large power marketer in the purchase of a retail energy company.
• NRG Energy in various retail energy matters, including with respect to its rooftop solar and electric vehicle charging businesses.

Some of the above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.

• Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), Energy 2.0 Committee Advisor
• Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), Executive Women’s Partnership 
• Renewable Energy Alliance – Houston (REAL Houston), Board Member
• American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), Leadership Council, 2014–2019
• Center for Houston’s Future, 2019 Leadership Forum Graduate
• Gulf Coast Power Association (GCPA), Co-chair of spring 2017 conference focused on power markets in the U.S. and Mexico; Planning Committee for the 2014–2016, Women’s Leadership Conference