Renewable Energy Law - LAWS8070

 
Faculty: Faculty of Law
 
 
School:  Faculty of Law
 
 
Course Outline: See below
 
 
Campus: Kensington Campus
 
 
Career: Postgraduate
 
 
Units of Credit: 6
 
 
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
 
 
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2
 
 
Enrolment Requirements:
 
 
Prerequisite: Academic Program must be either 9200, 9210, 5740 or 9230
 
 
Excluded: JURD7470
 
 
CSS Contribution Charge:Band 3 (more info)
 
 
Tuition Fee:See Tuition Fee Schedule
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
 

Description


This course examines the emerging legal regime for the development and deployment of renewable energy in the stationary energy sector in Australia. Set against the backdrop of climate change and the need to secure Australia’s future energy security, the course examines the origins and development of Australia’s renewable energy laws and provides an overview of the provisions of relevant renewable energy framework legislation. Other topics examined include challenges associated with integration of renewable energy into the national electricity market; legislative and policy incentives for the promotion of renewable energy; technology specific legislative regimes for renewable energy such as geothermal energy; planning and property law issues associated with renewable energy; and consumers and green power schemes.


LLM Specialisations


Recommended Prior Knowledge


None

Course Objectives


A candidate who has successfully completed this course should be able to:
  • describe the origins and development of legislative, common law and policy frameworks surrounding renewable energy at both the Federal and State level;
  • be familiar with the interaction of laws and policies surrounding renewable energy and how they interact with the regulation of the national electricity market;
  • be familiar with and understand the legal and policy issues relating to the constraints on the development and implementation of laws dealing with renewable energy in Australia;
  • identify and understand the key legal principles and legislative frameworks governing the development of renewable energy projects in Australia at the Federal and State Level;
  • be able to assess the efficacy of Australian renewable energy law within the context of contemporary national and international challenges and in particular the need to secure Australia energy security in a carbon constrained future.

Main Topics


  • Introduction to Australia’s renewable energy resources, current status of development and future prospects in a carbon constrained world;
  • Overview of origins and development of renewable energy law in Australia;
  • Renewable energy law frameworks: the CPRS and renewable energy target legislation;
  • Other legislative and policy incentives for promotion of renewable energy e.g feed-in tariffs;
  • Renewable energy and regulation of the National Electricity Market
  • Technology specific state based legislative regimes: for wind energy and geothermal energy;
  • Emerging legal regimes for off-shore renewable energy (wind, wave and tidal energy)
  • Legal issues concerning bio-fuels
  • Planning approval, environmental impact assessment and renewable energy projects
  • Property law issues associated with renewable energy projects including regulating rights to solar access
  • Consumer protection laws and green power schemes.

Assessment


Class participation: 10%
Class presentation: 15%
Research essay (6000 words): 75%

Course Texts


Prescribed

Subject to publication deadlines the main text for the course will be David Leary: Renewable Energy Law in Australia (forthcoming 2011). Should that book not be published in time for the course then course materials will be compiled.
Recommended
Rosemary Lyster and Adrian Brabrook, Energy Law and the Environment (Cambridge University Press 2006)

Resources


Refer to the course outline which will be provided by the lecturer at the beginning of the relevant semester.