December 21, 2022
NEW YORK, December 21, 2022 – Bill Helmer, who has served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Transmission Developers since 2008, has retired. Jeremiah Sheehan, a lawyer with over 20 years of experience in project development and finance, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions is set to replace Helmer.
Helmer’s retirement comes after capping off his accomplished career by celebrating the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) groundbreaking on November 30th in Whitehall, New York, a project that he has been working to bring to life for more than fourteen years.
Prior to his work with TDI, Helmer practiced law privately in Albany, later leading the Environmental Protection Bureau in the New York State Attorney General’s office, which counsels all environmental cases involving state agencies. Following this, he served as Special Counsel in the New York Power Authority’s Law Department.
In addition to his lengthy legal career, Helmer was also an adjunct professor at Union College, where he designed and taught “The Land and the Law” Environmental Studies course and co-hosted the award-winning “Capital Green Scene” weekly radio program on WVCR-FM 88.3. He is a member of the Environmental and Energy Law Section of the State Bar Association. Bill will continue to be involved with the CHPE project in the capacity of strategic advisor and consultant.
Sheehan started as TDI’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel and corporate secretary on November 1, 2022, in connection with the closing of the approximately $6 billion financing for the CHPE project. Previously he was the founding General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Sithe Global, a world class developer, owner and operator of international power generation assets and a Blackstone portfolio company, where he was responsible for all legal and compliance matters through the successful monetization of Sithe Global’s portfolio of project assets.
In addition to his work with Sithe Global, Jeremiah also served as a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins, New York and as a federal law clerk. He holds a B.A. from Fairfield University, and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
About TDI
TDI-USA Holdings LLC, a Blackstone portfolio company, has spent well over a decade meticulously developing, with input from local stakeholders, the CHPE project and its 339-mile route to the Canadian border, where the project cables will connect with cables that originate in Hertel near Montreal. In Astoria, Queens, the transmitted clean energy will be delivered to the grid. The solid state buried cable will travel a route under the East River, within the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, along railroad and highway rights of way and within Lake Champlain.
About the Champlain Hudson Power Express
The CHPE project involves the construction of an underground and underwater transmission line spanning approximately 339 miles between the Canada–U.S. border and New York City.
CHPE will also provide competitively priced hydropower from Québec that is expected to lower electricity generation costs throughout the state by $17 billion over the first 25 years of operation, all the while providing increased reliability and resiliency for the downstate grid. The project also provides a total of $3.5 billion in economic benefits to New Yorkers and creates approximately 1,400 family-sustaining jobs during construction, with a commitment to use union labor. It will provide an economic boost to 73 municipalities and 59 school districts throughout New York State with an increase in incremental tax revenue of $1.4 billion in funding for local communities over the first 25 years of the project.
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