Kenneth Charles Cestari
Partner

Overview
Ken Cestari is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office. He has extensive experience in federal credit programs, and a broad range of experience in complex secured and unsecured financings, with a focus on the financing of clean energy projects.
Mr. Cestari has deep knowledge of the credit programs administered by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO), and the underlying federal laws and policies that govern and apply to all federal credit programs. He has particular knowledge with the development and financing of photovoltaic solar, concentrating solar and nuclear power production facilities, natural gas cogeneration facilities, wind farms, landfill gas projects and waste coal recovery projects. In addition, Mr. Cestari has experience in structured tax transactions to obtain production tax credits, historic tax credits and nonconventional fuel tax credits.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Cestari served as the deputy chief counsel at the LPO. In that role, Mr. Cestari led a team of LPO attorneys in drafting revisions to the regulations implementing the innovative clean energy loan guarantee program (Title XVII) and the LPO's form documentation. In addition, he served as senior transaction counsel at the LPO. In that role, he served as the LPO's counsel on the financing of utility scale photovoltaic and concentrating solar power facilities, and a nuclear power plant. Prior to LPO, Mr. Cestari worked in private practice.
Mr. Cestari previously served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant, tank company executive officer and platoon leader. During his service, he was a class leader for the Armor Officer Basic Course. In addition, Mr. Cestari was awarded a Parachutist Badge and Air Assault Badge.
Representative Experience
Credentials
- University of Richmond School of Law, J.D., cum laude
- Bucknell University, B.A., Economics, Minor in Mathematics (Statistics)
- District of Columbia
- McNeill Honor Society, University of Richmond School of Law, 1994
- American Jurisprudence Award, Constitutional Law, University of Richmond School of Law, 1992