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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 or 9210 or 9230 or 5740 or 9220 or 5750 or 8619 or 5499 or 7339

Excluded: JURD7470

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

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.

This course is also available to students enrolled in the Master of Environmental Management (8619), Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management (5499) and the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management (7339).

This course is also available to students undertaking relevant postgraduate non-law degree programs at UNSW provided such enrolment is approved by the appopriate non-law Faculty.

LLM Specialisations

Environmental Law

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)

Order from UNSW Bookshop

Resources

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